Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have been very silent ever since capturing the charts and awards two years ago with their debut album The Heist. Fans have been wondering where the two are hiding but they are back now with an in depth interview with Complex for their latest August/September issue. Among other things, Macklemore opens up about his drug problems and why it was the reason they couldn’t properly record new music.
“I think I was in a place of sophomore slump jinx fear until I started writing songs again. When I was smoking weed, trying to avoid life at all costs, I was in a place of fear. But now that we have the bulk of the album done—if it’s not as commercially successful as The Heist, which I would be surprised if it was, great. If it is critically acclaimed, great. If the people don’t like it as much as old music, great. We did the best that we could do. I stand behind the music. I like the music. I enjoy it. I feel like I’m speaking my truth. If my happiness is contingent upon how these songs do on the radio and what people write about them in the reviews and how big our shows are, I failed. I feel like I’m in the best place I’ve ever been to move forward with releasing this music because I know what has to come first in order for me to be successful. And that has nothing to do with numbers, it has nothing to do with shows, it has nothing to do with what somebody else writes.”
Read the full cover story here.
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