Macklemore, "Same Love"

amateurist otm as to Macklemore's "audience." That's something I was trying to get at upthread in response to predictions that he wouldn't be a star by the next record and would go back to being a moderately successful undie rapper for the rest of his career.

macklemore fans are everybody.

In the sense that almost anyone can become part of The Borg, yes.

I still stand by "every Macklemore fan is Brian Griffin"

appreciate it nv

all the attempts to say "who macklemore fans are" is kind of weird b/c he's HUGE. macklemore fans are everybody. well, everybody except those who don't like him. but it's not as if his fans fit into some very tidy demographic.

― display name changed. (amateurist), Tuesday, May 20, 2014 2:51 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

don't you know they're the children of reagan democrats?!

that's the kind of thing that makes me want to quit the internet (along with, you know, everything else on the internet).

no they are regan democrats, i.e. democrats possessed by demons, spinning their heads 360 degrees, barfing, etc.

all the attempts to say "who macklemore fans are" is kind of weird b/c he's HUGE. macklemore fans are everybody. well, everybody except those who don't like him. but it's not as if his fans fit into some very tidy demographic.

― display name changed. (amateurist), Tuesday, May 20, 2014 2:51 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's definitely the demographic of "people who don't listen to much rap music"

if you know what i mean

Whiney are you a a preening metal hip-hop purist manbaby ? :)

xp I was going to say upthread that the defining sentiment of a Macklemore fan is probably "finally some rap music for ME"

The defining sentiment of a Macklemore fan is "I like pop music."

That came off as snarky and pejorative about pop music, though I didn't mean it to. But my guess if you made a diagram of people who like Lil Wayne, Macklemore, Drake, Eminem, Rihanna, and Beyonce, there'd be a gigantic amount of overlap.

My main point is that this dope is one of the 10 most popular artists of the past couple years, and my guess is that the average Macklemore fan is just the average fan of music that is popular right now, not someone super-stoked that there's finally a rapping white guy.

Which isn't to say that his music is good, or that there aren't gnarly racial components to his success. I just kind of feel all this "Reagan Democrat/music for white people who are afraid of rap" stuff understates the size of this guy's fan base.

It's the same audience who bought Nelly records a decade ago. It's standard-issue pop-rap crossover to me, made way easier for the American public because of Macklemore's race, but not limited to people who buy no other rap.

It's the same audience who bought Nelly records a decade ago.

how dare u

Not a qualitative judgment; Nelly's way better.

also tho i think nelly was a genuine star w/african americans

cant find it now but either rev or whiney or someone posted a link to a twitter search of the words "macklemore" and "rap" and maybe the word "like" and it was tweet after tweet of white teens proclaiming that macklemore is the only rap music they liked

Yeah, for sure re:Nelly. I guess here's what I mean, which I honestly don't feel like I'm expressing very well at all:

I actually think that race is a gigantic issue for Macklemore's success, but I think that psychoanalyzing his audience as something separate from the audience for the rest of American pop music is folly.

likewise Eminem and Beastie Boys were the only rappers played on rock radio when I was in high school

only rappers played on rock radio

For an earlier example, see Run-DMC with Aerosmith.

Yeah, I'm just saying that dude's fan base is a fish-in-a-barrel on this thread, but the reality is that they're the fish all around you. Which isn't supposed to be a more comforting thought.

sorry for the pseudo-"haven't I blown your mind??" phrasing on that last one.

I just kind of feel all this "Reagan Democrat/music for white people who are afraid of rap" stuff understates the size of this guy's fan base.

this... is a huge fan base though? as evidenced by the success of Macklemore (welcome to Tautologies R Us)

Nelly and Macklemore comparison is off for the simple fact that Hip-hop and rap stations actually played Nelly. Macklemore's songs barely have a presence on radio-based rap charts.

welcome to Tautologies R Us

where you're guaranteed to go round and round w/your cart or your money back

xps

but run-dmc/aerosmith makes sense as like rock crossover, as did at least some of the beastie boys they played (sabotage, fight for your right)

playing eminem on the other hand was just so transparently not about the music's ostensible genre

Yeah, I take back the Nelly thing, that was bogus, sorry about that.

DJP probably otm, probably should rethink before I go nuts posting again, sorry all.

eminem no longer gets played by rap radio either and hasn't for years and years

r.i.p. big man

Macklemore should hook the Nelly crowd by joining Tim McGraw on his "Sundown Heaven Town Tour"

i think there is definitely a lot of trying to define the macklemore audience as NOT LIKE ME in this thread because people dont like his music (and the unfortunate fact of his success). pretty basic distancing 101. which is not to say that he doesn't suck. and not to say that many of his fans probably suck (but find me an act that you couldn't say that about). but let's not go crazy here.

if i was a macklemore fan, i'd swear ilx hates me

lol

Every song of his I've heard is a smug, horrible, hateful thing. Fans of his are not real music fans as far as I'm concerned.

k

The Heist [self-released, 2012]

The question isn't whether this Seattle alt-rapper is a cornball, it's whether he's so dumb he's a cornball or so brave he's a cornball. The answer is "Same Love," the best gay marriage song to date in any genre and as corny as it damn well oughta be. Sure there's too much "who I really was," too much "a life lived for art is never a life wasted." And though the co-billed Lewis is big and original for an alt-beatmaker, his percussion-oriented version of an E Street Band, strings-swell-to-big-finish aesthetic has its icky moments. But as someone who shares Macklemore's moral views if not his equation of sincerity with soul, I find only the alcoholic's confession "Neon Cathedral" too much, and that one's counteracted by the relapser's confession "Starting Over," just as "Sayin' 'That's poetry, it's so well-spoken,' stop it" counteracts his art talk. He's especially good on old cars and old clothes. B+

ha he's always excused well-meaning liberal garbage tho

The couple black Macklemore fans I have met, I have questioned whether they are actual Don Lemon clones.

ha he's always excused well-meaning liberal garbage tho

― goole, Tuesday, May 20, 2014 6:26 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he said, panicky

but run-dmc/aerosmith makes sense as like rock crossover, as did at least some of the beastie boys they played (sabotage, fight for your right)

it might have made sense if those same rock stations had also played run-dmc's "rock box" or "king of rock" once in a while, but i don't recall that ever happening. the only crossover rock stations cared about was crossing over to white faces on the album cover.

you guys are dumb mackelmore def has a demographic like all artists do to a certain extent but with him particularly hes had a p long career of building a hardcore grassroots audience that has is a v specific demo, then he got a few huge hits, I guess u cld call everyone who thinks thrift shop is good a macklemore "fan" its p obvs that they're not too committed, now if you look at the history of music charts just because you make some hits doesnt mean you then make hits forever sometimes you dont and you lose those casual fans, but if like macklemore you have those hardcore fans to fall back on thats good, even prob through your hits you've managed to pickup more hardcore fans of a similar type to yr previous hardcore fans, and fwiw he was not at all just some rando undie rapper before his hits he was doing p good for himself, my feeling is based on the kinda amateurish quality if his music that he will more likely be a flash in the pan nothing abt his music saying pro hit maker to me

Yeah, I definitely said he'd be famous forever, not that he'd have probably 2-3 more records as a "star" before fading a little, but still always being able to fill a respectable venue. I also called him a "moderately successful undie rapper," which as you pointed out is totally distinct from "he was doing p good for himself."

For what it's worth, the career trajectory I predict for dude is probably closest to, like, Mumford & Sons; not guaranteed famous forever, but not a quick Alanis Morissette-style fade from broad popularity. My feeling is based on my interactions with a ton of 21- to 24-year-olds in a random professional setting, many of whom were more than casual fans and were all about The Heist.

Hell, I may be wrong. Honestly kind of hope I am.

I think without the benefit of social media, Macklemore would've gone the way of Arrested Development or PM Dawn after his time in the spotlight. Now, though, he can stay in people's faces indefinitely.

predict 1st single from next album peaks at #22 next one fails to break the top 50, hes still oddly popular but no one notices

over two million people follow him on twitter, so someone likes him