Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Macklemore 'This Unruly Mess I've Made' Tour in Dortmund
General information
Genre (s)	Hip-hop , alternative hip-hop , pop-rap
founding	2009
Current occupation
Rap , songwriting	Macklemore
DJ , production	Ryan Lewis

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an American hip-hop - duo from Seattle . It consists of the musicians Macklemore and Ryan Lewis . From 2011 to 2016, they had some international hits, including number-one hits Thrift Shop and Can't Hold Us .

history

In 2006, producer and photographer Ryan met Lewis Macklemore on MySpace and did a photo shoot with him. In 2008, after Macklemore had overcome his Oxycontin addiction , Lewis began working with him musically. In 2009 Lewis produced the Unplanned Mixtape for Macklemore . The EP VS, produced in December of the same year. They released the EP for the first time as "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis" and offered them for free download. In October 2010 the revised VS came out. Redux - EP on the market.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performing at the 2011 Sasquatch

After a small tour at the beginning of 2011, the single Can't Hold Us Down followed in the summer of 2011 with the R&B singer Ray Dalton as a guest. For the first time it attracted more attention, especially on the Internet. From October to December 2011 they toured North America, Great Britain and Ireland.

In September 2012 they released their debut album The Heist . The Heist World Tour started at the same time and took Macklemore & Ryan Lewis through Europe and the USA until December. Australia and New Zealand will follow later. During this time, the Track Thrift Shop became a hit in North America, Europe and Australia. He reached the number one position in the USA , Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland. In the USA it received a rare diamond award for 10 million units sold, and numerous platinum awards and several million units were added worldwide. The album The Heist came to number 2 on the US album charts and reached numerous top 20 positions internationally.

In the second attempt Can't Hold Us became a big hit with many top 5 placements internationally and the second number one position in the USA. With Same Love and White Walls two more successful songs from the album were added.

Even after their global success, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis decided not to work with a large label and sold their music and merchandising products exclusively through their own sales.

As of November 2013, both of them worked as United Nations ambassadors for equal rights for homosexuals.

They dominated the Rap category at the 2014 Grammy Awards , Thrift Shop won two and the album The Heist won one. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were also named Newcomer of the Year in a main category. They were nominated for three other prizes.

The first single for their second album, Growing Up , was released by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on August 5, 2015 and made available for free download. Macklemore wrote a letter to the fans in which he addressed the private events of the last few years and posted it on a website specially set up for the song. Ed Sheeran appeared as a guest musician. In the song, Macklemore talks about his daughter.

In August 2015 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis released the single Downtown along with a music video. They also appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards . At the American Music Awards in November 2015, Macklemore and Leon Bridges presented the song Kevin , a very emotional song about one of his friends who died in 2010 of an overdose of OxyContin. Macklemore criticizes the pharmaceutical industry and doctors for their wrong handling of prescribing prescriptions and the sheer greed of the corporations. In January 2016, the new album was officially announced with a video describing the album's production and inspirations. Shortly thereafter, the single White Privilege II was released. The song was produced together with some colored civil rights activists and black musicians, u. a. Jamila Woods. In the 9-minute work Macklemore describes his role in the hip-hop scene, criticizes white America for the wrong handling of the events in Ferguson 2014 and the police. He's also talking about attending a Black Lives Matter event in Seattle. It is also aimed at fans who only love it for its success and do not understand the intentions behind many of its songs. But he also criticizes himself for his handling of the events and his role in the hip-hop scene. The day before the album was released, the music video for Kevin was released.

On February 26, 2016, the duo released their second studio album, This Unruly Mess I've Made . Although it achieved higher rankings than the previous album in some countries, it lagged significantly behind its earlier success. With Downtown it also contained only one chart hit that did not make it into the top 10 in most countries and only in Australia , where they had been particularly successful before, did they reach number 1.

After the setback, Macklemore began several solo releases from 2017 and teamed up with other performers. Ryan Lewis also produced other musicians, including the singer Kesha .

Discography

→ Main article : Macklemore & Ryan Lewis / Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2012	The Heist	DE6th platinum (47 weeks)DE	AT14th gold (52 weeks)AT	CH10 gold (60 weeks)CH	UK19th gold (57 weeks)UK	US2 platinum (102 weeks)US	First published: October 9, 2012
2016	This Unruly Mess I've Made	DE4 (7 weeks) DE	AT4 (8 weeks) AT	CH3 (8 weeks) CH	UK16 (4 weeks) UK	US4 (7 weeks) US	First published: February 26, 2016

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2012	Thrift Shop The Heist	DE2 × 3 Triple gold (62 weeks)DE	AT2 platinum (44 weeks)AT	CH1 platinum (39 weeks)CH	UK1 × 2 Double platinum (40 weeks)UK	US1 diamond (49 weeks)US	First published: August 28, 2012 Sales: + 13,400,000; feat. Wanz
2013	Can't Hold Us The Heist	DE2 × 3 Triple gold (77 weeks)DE	AT3 platinum (41 weeks)AT	CH4th platinum (51 weeks)CH	UK3 × 3 Triple platinum (44 weeks)UK	US1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (39 weeks)US	First published: August 16, 2011 feat. Ray Dalton
	Same Love The Heist	DE25 (16 weeks) DE	AT19 (17 weeks) AT	CH33 (9 weeks) CH	UK6th platinum (16 weeks)UK	US11 × 3 Triple platinum (30 weeks)US	First published: July 18, 2012 feat. Mary Lambert
	White Walls The Heist	DE17 (20 weeks) DE	AT8 (18 weeks) AT	CH32 (10 weeks) CH	UK26 (6 weeks) UK	US15th × 2 Double platinum (22 weeks)US	First release: October 8, 2013 feat. Schoolboy Q & Hollis
2015	Downtown This Unruly Mess I've Made	DE30 (15 weeks) DE	AT45 (12 weeks) AT	CH48 (9 weeks) CH	UK11 platinum (23 weeks)UK	US12 platinum (20 weeks)US	First published: August 27, 2015 feat. Eric Nally, Melle Mel , Kool Moe Dee & Grandmaster Caz

Awards for music sales

→ Main article : Macklemore & Ryan Lewis / Music Sales Awards

Country / Region	gold	platinum	diamond	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	gold1	33 × platinum33	-	2,345,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	2 × gold2	platinum1	-	60,000	ultratop.be
Denmark (IFPI)	gold1	13 × platinum13	-	65,000	ifpi.dk
Germany (BVMI)	2 × gold2	3 × platinum3	-	1,100,000	musikindustrie.de
France (SNEP)	-	2 × platinum2	diamond1	650,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Italy (FIMI)	2 × gold2	8 × platinum8th	-	400,000	fimi.it
Canada (MC)	-	6 × platinum6th	diamond1	1,280,000	musiccanada.com
Mexico (AMPROFON)	4 × gold4th	2 × platinum2	-	240,000	amprofon.com.mx
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	9 × platinum9	-	135,000	nztop40.co.nz
Norway (IFPI)	gold1	12 × platinum12	-	135,000	ifpi.no
Austria (IFPI)	gold1	2 × platinum2	-	67,500	ifpi.at
Sweden (IFPI)	-	7 × platinum7th	-	280,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold1	2 × platinum2	-	75,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	gold1	13 × platinum13	diamond1	19,875,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold1	7 × platinum7th	-	4,100,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	17 × gold17th	120 × platinum120	3 × diamond3

International appearances (selection)

• 2011: Fall Fling 2011 Seattle, USA
• 2011: Macklemore + Special Guests London, Great Britain
• 2012: Splash! Festival 2012 Graefenhainichen, Germany
• 2012: Openair Frauenfeld 2012 Frauenfeld, Switzerland
• 2012: Hip Hop Kemp 2012 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
• 2012: Westword Music Showcase Denver, USA
• 2012: Westword Music Showcase Hamburg, Germany
• 2012: Westword Music Showcase Krakow, Poland
• 2012: Westword Music Showcase Bremen, Germany
• 2013: Westword Music Showcase Munich, Germany
• 2013: Hurricane Festival 2013 Scheeßel, Germany
• 2013: Southside Festival 2013 Neuhausen Ob Eck, Germany
• 2013: Splash! Festival 2013 Graefenhainichen, Germany
• 2013: Openair St.Gallen 2013 St. Gallen, Switzerland
• 2013: The Heist Tour Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2013: The Heist Tour Westfalenhalle 1, Dortmund, Germany
• 2013: The Heist Tour o2 World, Berlin, Germany
• 2013: The Heist Tour Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart, Germany
• 2014: Sziget Festival , Budapest, Hungary
• 2014: Frequency Festival St. Pölten, Austria
• 2014: Chiemsee Summer Übersee am Chiemsee, Germany
• 2014: Openair Frauenfeld 2014 Frauenfeld, Switzerland
• 2015: Lollapalooza 2015 Berlin, Germany
• 2016: An Evening with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Tour America & Europe
• 2017: Gurtenfestival , Bern, Switzerland
• 2017: Moon and Stars , Locarno, Switzerland
• 2017: Rock am Ring , Nürburgring, Germany
• 2017: Rock im Park , Germany

Awards

MTV Video Music Awards

• 2013: in the category Best Hip-Hop Video for Can't Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton)
• 2013: in the Best Cinematography category for Can't Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton)
• 2013: in the category Best Video with a Social Message for Same Love (feat. Mary Lambert)
• 2015: in the Best Music Video category for Downtown (feat. Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee & Grandmaster Caz)

Grammy Awards

• 2014 : in the Best New Artist category
• 2014: in the Best Rap Performance category for Thrift Shop
• 2014: in the Best Rap Song category for Thrift Shop
• 2014: in the Best Rap Album category for The Heist

Web links

• macklemore.com
• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis at Discogs (English)
• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Seattle rapper Macklemore ready to take a shot at pop stardom , The Seattle Times, February 9, 2011
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bernstein, Ian (2013) " MTV VMAs: The Year of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, " Hollywood Reporter , August 23, 2013
3. ^ ^{A b} Trust, Gary (2013) " Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History ", Billboard , May 8, 2013, accessed February 11, 2015
4. ↑ Macklemore & Ryan Lewis become UN ambassadors at welt.de.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK1 UK2 UK3 US
6. ↑ http://ifpi.org/downloads/Digital-Music-Report-2014.pdf