Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have taken us all along for an incredible ride over the last 3 years. All the momentum of sold out shows, stunning videos & hard work has led up to the release of this debut album. Once you have become a fan of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis you get the sense that you are apart of their success. It's this connected vibe that has amassed such a huge following and created such a great story that has been nothing short of remarkable. By refusing to go the major label route, Mack, Ryan and their manager extraordinaire, Zach, have taken the independent route to unparalleled success. The success is destined to continue to grow beyond anyone's expectations with the release of their magnificent debut album, The Heist. It's an album that layers itself with light humor, fearless truth & raw emotion. It was never a matter of wondering of The Heist was going to live up to expectations, it was a matter of simply waiting for it to be released and those expectations to manifest. For the avid fan, you will find the previously released tracks, "Make The Money", "Can't Hold Us" & "Wing
quot; on the album. While all these songs might be old to some of us, the thing to keep in mind here is the first time listener who will have this album as their first taste of Mack & Ryan's music. I mean damn, picture hearing all of this album for the first time....yeeesh. The Heist still leaves the seasoned listener with new material that will continue to give this album more legs. This is not your average album where you hear all the best songs before it's release, no sir. The album starts off with the triumphant, "Ten Thousand Hours", that promenades through your speakers with larger than life synth melodies & percussion. Mack idles along with author Malcom Gladwell's '10,000 hours rule' and relays that into the background story of his rise to where he is today. This song is home to one of those most profound lines on the album, as he raps: "A life lived for art is never a life wasted" - Macklemore Moving along the new material we find "White Walls" featuring TDE rapper ScHoolBoy Q and fellow Seattleite, Hollis on the chorus. This tracks starts out propitiously with Mack rapping about his love for Cadillac's, but after the intro and when the chorus kicks in, this track becomes an insta-classic. Mack follows up with wordplay on his verses that is going to destroy the floors of all the venue's he plays in across America. When I spoke of fearless truth earlier I was speaking about "Starting Over". This beautiful track features guitar work & vocals from Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. The profound thing about this song is how Macklemore admits that he had a relapse with his sobriety after a well documented 3 year span of being sober. A thing held so closely to his chest is vividly displayed for all of us to dissect It's very admirable and humanizing to hear Macklemore admit this to his fanbase in a song. Apparently close friends were not even aware about this until the release of this album. The other highlights round out with the Buffalo Madonna assisted "Thin Line" and the collaborative return with Evan Roman on "A Wake". When it's all said and done, The Heist, will go down as an album that will have endless replay value, contain societal impact ("Same Love") and inspire change within the music industry. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have crafted a classic album and more importantly created a piece of art that will stand the test of time.
Written by Chad Hillard
