![]() He was a beat-maker, and he was super young. How did you meet your longtime collaborator Ryan Lewis, and when did you realize you complemented one another so effectively? ![]() When you’re inside, you write a lot more. ![]() It’s raining all the time here, which forces you to be inside more, to be creative and not be distracted by the sunshine. One thing that gives a common bond for all the hip-hop coming out of Seattle is that we make music in the rain. We have so many different sounds, so it’s hard to pinpoint one. The last show we did in Seattle was for 10,000 people. Now, in 2012, we have a scene here that’s massive. The scene survived off of artists supporting other artists. The ‘scene’ was a couple hundred people at most, and most of those people also made art. When I first started 14-15 years ago, it was something that was extremely tiny. What I do describe is the scene and how much it’s grown in the last decade. I don’t think that Seattle hip-hop is something you can describe in terms of sound – it’s very difficult to describe actual sound for me. grunge), how do you explain Seattle hip-hop to people when you’re touring across the U.S. Since a lot of folks probably have preconceived notions about what defines our city’s music scene (i.e. It was an intense experience and it gave me a lot to reflect on in my whole life. However, it’s completely not that – they were incredible kids who just got caught up in other things. Green Hill is where, as the system would call it, the ‘worst of the worst’ type of kids lived. It gave me a broader perspective on our country’s prison system and judicial system, and exposed me to a lot of amazing individuals who were locked up since they were 12 or 13 years old. It gave me a lot to write about, being around youth who were incarcerated. How did this experience shape your career? Prior to making it big, you were part of the Gateways program at Green Hill, a maximum-security juvenile detention facility. The minute I started recording myself, I wanted to be onstage and I wanted to make that my profession. I take pride in whatever I produce, whether that’s playing a board game, drawing on a piece of paper or making an album. I’m somebody that, whenever I do something, I do it to the best of my ability. The minute I started recording myself at 15 or 16 years old, I wanted to make it a career. When did you realize that hip-hop was not only something you were passionate about, but also a potential career choice? Also, I had no breath control, so I ran out of breath within 30 seconds. That was a little while ago, but I remember just loving the feeling of being in front of the crowd. But the first time I got up on stage and did my own music, I was probably 15 years old. I performed for anybody and everybody, from a very early age. I was performing for my family at reunions and anybody my parents had over for a dinner party. It all depends on what you define as a ‘live performance’. What was your first live performance like? My second memory is Digital Underground and ‘The Humpty Dance’, when I was seven years old. My first memory of music was ‘The Heat Is On’. Thanks to a massive worldwide tour and highly anticipated album slated for release next week, this socially conscious MC is preparing to make the leap from local favorite to national icon. Today, the Seattle hip-hop scene is in full swing – and Hagerty (aka Macklemore) is considered one of the movement’s founding fathers. The introspective rapper enjoys his biggest year to date.Īs a teenager, Capitol Hill native Ben Hagerty dreamed of becoming a successful rapper.
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