WHO IS MACKLEMORE

Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, a.k.a. Macklemore, is a Seattle native born on 19th June 1983. At the tender age of 6 years old after hearing Digital Underground, he was hooked on Hip-Hop.

He started rapping during high school and would later facilitate music workshops for the youth program ‘Gateways For Incarcerated Youth’.

In 2005 he released his first album ‘The Language of my World’ featuring the single ‘Love Song’, then in 2006 he met his partner to be, Ryan Lewis.

It would not be until 2009 that they would collaborate musically, previously spending their time trying to promote Macklemore’s photography, releasing ‘The Vs.’ EP. In 2012 they released their first album, ‘The Heist’, that boasted the number 1 hit single ‘Thrift Shop’, which was dubbed by Billboard to be the first song since 1994 to reach number one without being backed by a major label.

Their follow up single ‘Can’t Hold Us’ also reached number one making them the first ever duo to have two number one singles on the billboard’s hot 100.

The pair have been nominated for 7 Grammy awards, winning 4, including Best New artist; Best Rap Album for ‘The Heist’; Best Rap Song and Best Performance for ‘Thrift Shop’. He later showed support for the LGBTQ community through his song, “Same Love”, released in 2012. Additionally, he spoke against addiction and shared his own insight on the subject during Obama’s weekly address talk in 2016.

If you ever feel short of a role model, look to Haggerty. So far, all he’s got is a past with substance abuse and no other issues.