Macklemore — remember him? The “Thrift Shop” guy? The rapper partially responsible for The Heist, the album that basically mired the future rap G.O.A.T.’s coming out party? Right now, he’s probably at home somewhere outside of Seattle minding his own business, taking care of his two daughters, performing a little magic, hanging out with his wife and slurping up some vegetarian Pho.
But that didn’t stop him from trending on Twitter.
On Tuesday (November 24), Mack’s name started getting flung around all over the social media platform on the same day the Recording Academy announced the 2021 Grammy Award nominees.
Why, you ask?
At the 2014 Grammy Awards, Mack and his producer Ryan Lewis took home the gilded trophy in the Best Rap Album category for The Heist, ousting Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 masterpiece good Kid, m.A.A.d. City.
That evening, as everyone sat dressed to the nines at the Los Angeles Staples Center, the Hip Hop duo managed to sweep the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, winning a total of four in the Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best New Artist and, yep, Best Rap Album categories — and even Macklemore was shocked.
Shortly after the winner for Best Rap Album was announced, Macklemore posted a text message he sent to K. Dot that illustrated the immense guilt he felt.
“You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have,” Macklemore wrote in the text message. “It’s weird and sucks that I robbed you. I was gonna say that during the speech. Then the music started playing during my speech, and I froze. Anyway, you know what it is. Congrats on this year and your music. Appreciate you as an artist and as a friend. Much love.”
He captioned the Instagram post with,” My text to Kendrick after the show. He deserved best rap album. I’m honored and completely blown away to win anything much less 4 Grammys. But in that category, he should have won IMO, And that’s taking nothing away from The Heist. Just giving GKMC it’s proper respect.”
Despite Macklemore’s seemingly well intended gesture, he was still dragged for doing the “most un-Hip Hop” thing a rapper could do — apologize for winning. In a February 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Drake clowned Macklemore for the apology.
“I was like, ‘You won. Why are you posting your text message? Just chill. Take your W, and if you feel you didn’t deserve it, go get better — make better music,'” Drake, whom Macklemore also beat out, said at the time. “It felt cheap. It didn’t feel genuine. Why do that? Why feel guilt? You think those guys would pay homage to you if they won?”
Pop Smoke, The Weeknd, RTJ, Eminem: 10 Rap/R&B Artists Fans Think Were Snubbed By 2021 Grammys
T.I. chimed in as well, telling DJ Whoo Kid, “I think Kendrick should have won. I think Drake should have won something, man. I really do, bruh. I think what Kendrick and Drake did, it was significant to the culture. And Macklemore, too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t think Macklemore deserved what he got. I’m not trying to say that. I’m just saying in some kinda way, Kendrick should have got somethin’…With you giving it all to Macklemore, it’s like you saying this is all of Hip Hop.”
Six years later, it’s happening again — but this time on Twitter. Many people felt The Weeknd’s snub was similar to the K. Dot snub after the Canadian crooner’s After Hours album failed to yield a single nomination. Consequently, Macklemore’s name was dragged through the dirt for most of Tuesday night.
Check out some of the reactions below.
Drake (Nothing was the Same), a rapper/singer known mainly just for flows, beats, and hooks being compared with Macklemore (The Heist) and Kendrick Lamar (Good Kid, MAAD City) who more lyrical and/or conceptual. I’m surprised no one called him out
Drake was right take your win like a man and don’t apologize. Apologize for what? KL win would’ve smirked all awkward and shit like FOH Macklemore and every other nominee and left … don’t feel bad. Respect to KL for not making some diss record about it
Drake was not right…how can u take ur W like a man when u know u didnt win?? LMAO…shit I’m glad he did what he did….19 years later, and Jay still think he defeated Nas… least the white guy kept it honest and didn’t try to claim a false victory…don’t see how Drake viewed this as not being genuine….but he did get moist over that overrated “Control” verse so his take wasnt surprising…(and why wouldn’t Kdot “smirk” if he had won?? He was the real winner correct?)
To Pimp was boring af and has no relay value at all … doesn’t mean K Dot is a fire mc
*Replay and doesn’t mean
And that is totally irrelevant to what I posted….
Good points bro bro, but To Pimp was boring af and has no relay value at all … doesn’t mean K Dot is a fire mc IMHO …
maybe a critical show and tell of the grammys could be helpful… like a documentary. why feel sorry he might poke you with a dirty needle for being a homosexual.
Every year I ask the same question. Why does hip hop give a fuck about a Grammy?
Jesus christ. You can’t get any more pathetic than this. A lot of beta males out there have tried, but Macklemore is the prince of the cucks.
Nobody listens to macklemore. when he won that year I asked everyone around me, friends, family, coworkers, random strangers…none of them listen to macklemore. i dont kno how he won to this day but it is what it is. Take the W and run with it dont apologize.
Same here Box. I asked everyone I knew, even the garbage man and he said that sht trash
This is why the culture always blows up at the Grammys. Because everyone is stuck inside a bubble that believe that their bubble is what represents the entirety of Hip Hop or even music in General. Mack was the hugest thing back in 2013, and even though Kendrick had a classic, the grammys were looking at something else.
I wouldn’t say bested because This group is not rap and shouldn’t have been placed in that category in the first place !!
white guilt
At the time I wasn’t just mad Macklemore beat Kendrick. I was mad he beat Kendrick and Drake. Say what you want, but NWTS was arguably Drake’s peak, and GKMC was a Classic. Now, I kinda feel bad for him Macklemore. He didn’t ask for the awards, he was still new in the game, and it was an incredibly awkward situation to be in. The text wasn’t a great idea, but he had good intentions. This whole basically killed his career when it was just getting started.
he honestly felt he shouldnt have won. Its like winning the Tour de France or something while knowing you used drugs (the drugs in this case is white privilege) ..and if you take a look at the Grammys its pretty uncomfortable for white artist in hip hop cause 1 they’re emulating the culture and knowing the Grammys track record for fucking it up…is noteworthy. I haven’t listen to Macklemore album and probably never will..he honestly shouldn’t have won his body of work did not stand the test of time like kendrick.
right. literally nobody mentions him or that album anymore. he mite be the first and only artist that I can think of that won a grammy for best rap album and you would be hard pressed to find anyone that listens to dude.
Speak for yourself. Everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess. Listen to Penis Song and tell me that ain’t fire??
All these comments hating on Macklemore… I’ve never watched the Grammy’s… and I’ve never heard of Kendrick Lamar and I think Drake is awful. I’ve listened to Macklemore almost daily for a full decade now.
If you like rap/hiphop you should give good kid mad city a listen. like all the way through. Its one of the best albums I’ve ever listened to.
2 sentences I never thought id ever hear in my life.
“I don’t know who Kendrick lamar is.”
“I listen to Macklemore everyday for a decade”
I feel ya bro. Macklemore popularized flea markets and made it cool again. He deserves the Grammy for real. He retired at the top of the game. Who wants to listen to an album all about violence in Good Kid, Bad City?? Is that all hip hop is? Nope. It’s deeper than that.
Shout out to all my Caucasoid brothers and sisters in the struggle. We taking all the Grammies this year. #WhiteExcellence
The good thing is Macklemore’s fifteen minutes are up. I couldn’t believe people liked that gay ass in the first place. He is a complete tool packaged by the music industry promoting the same lame progressive shit that failed all blue states and left them decimated in their stupidity. Yup, Macklemore represents every failure from libtards policies. They’re next to be written off into the trash bin of history.
It’s really nice when the slugs come out to get salted.
Us blue states carry your backwater uneducated Christian-jihadi redneck diabetes ridden shit hole red states because you stupid fucktards don’t understand the most basic functions of anything from 6th grade science to the simplest aspects of economics.
Your attempted snark ass remark just makes you sound like some Yall’Qaeda dick-sucking human equivalent of a prolapsed anus. Puts a nice big “Simple Ass Motherfucker” stamp on your head, tho, so at least we know you have a legal mental handicap.
But you need to feel important, don’t you? Superior? Like you know something others don’t. Go lick those red boots, don’t forget to say “Thanks daddy!”
If us blue states dropped your tax-leeching asses you people would figure out real fast that your beloved right wing jihad politicians have been fucking you up the ass for decades and keeping you too stupid and hysterical to notice. How’s it feel to be the laughing stock of literally all the major cities in the country? There’s a reason we look at you people like you’re a bunch of fuckin clowns.
The bigger Grammy snub, in my opinion, was Drake’s “whatever it was called” album winning over The Ecstatic – Mos Def.
Ecstatic was what I call an ALBUM. Wow. Drake’s was ight.
Dude seriously Ecstatic is a fucking bomb album, still one of my favorites to this day. Mos Def is a fuckin legend.
Macklemore deserved to win that Grammy and Adele deserved to win hers over Beyonce. I take racism very seriously but let’s not play the card in places where it doesn’t need to be played.
The Heist was a good album, but it should not have won over GKMC.
It was the grammys. He deserved a grammy win for that album. It was independent. It had 3 smash singles with unknown artists that was able to be played on pop and rap stations. Kendricks one hit from the album was bitch dont kill my vibe. Kendrick had the better album. He had dre. But it wasnt as accessible to all ages and had a wider reach on radio stations. The grammys are about sales and reach. The fact that an indie album did that with unknowns is more impressive than kendrick and dre putting out a good record tbh. It deserved the grammy. Kendrick also deserved something. And he got it. That thing he got was called respect. It was a place. Meanwhile macklemore got shit on for his W. And hes only had one hit since. Instead of bitching about the lil trophy that NO ONE respects until someone isnt given one, everyone should be happy with the fact that kendrick is a legend in his own right and the people know it. Fuck a grammy. Its for industry goals and sales. And it literally meant nothing in helping out macklemore career. But hey. Lets keep bitching about it for no reason.
Facts. People don’t want to acknowledge what Macklemore did as incredible. Also the content matter was progressive which is what the socially conscious grammys love to reward. Of course Kendrick is a legend who will continue to have great success but black artists need to chill and recognize the people who vote for these awards are not their peers but old white men.
I understand Macklemore shouldn’t have to feel guilty, but putting Macklemore album , and Drake album is crazy. Macklemore had a few hits , but nothing compared to the other artist and the records they put out for that year. If you haven’t at least listened to Kendrick, then don’t speak in hiphop. Also has Macklemore put any new music out since then ?