MFNW 2011: Macklemore - Roseland (Portland, OR; Sep. 9)

Anthem after anthem is the way Macklemore likes to stack his sets. Do you know these anthems yet? Possibly, but if you don’t, you soon will. This guy is going to be everywhere in six months. You could hear this in the songs he creates, which are vibrant and brimming with extremely catchy beats and Brother Ali-like flowisms. It was foretold in the electricity of his crowd, which was stocked with a bunch of kids who were at that age when the acts you love turn into the biggest part of your life. For them, this was an event. They weren’t here for the other acts; they were here for him. And with this type of passion, and a world no longer limited by boundary lines, he’ll soon find himself far beyond the Pacific Northwest.

That feeling of inevitability made this show feel like we were witnessing the moment before the tipping point. Like we were seeing Eminem before “My Name Is” dropped or catching Kid Cudi in the first weeks after “Day N Nite” hit the internet. To a random observer it may have seemed like they had stumbled in on an overnight sensation, but according to Macklemore, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. He explained this away with stories about trips to Portland where his performances were always to small, but growing groups of people. It started with 15, increased to 30, then 50 - and kept climbing until tonight. In his eyes you could see he was loving where all those dues had brought him. That tenacity had worked to his advantage though. It was the reason he could now command the stage like a seasoned vet, rather than as a stereotypical mic barker. That trait alone already separated him from about 70 percent of live hip hop acts right off the bat. The other part that set him apart was his lyrics.

Maybe it’s because he’s white, maybe it’s because he’s from Seattle, but something in Macklemore has instructed him to forgo the trap rap and champagne jams that have overtaken popular hip hop and drive his own life home. I say popular because while he definitely worships the underground and incorporates known signifiers into his music, this is a guy gunning for the mainstream. He just doesn’t do it like everyone else. If he’s going to get introspective, it’s going to be about how hip hop music soothed his soul, or how his obsession with Nikes reframed consumerism for him ("Wings"). If he’s going to do club rap, it’s going to be about acting a fool with his friends ("The Club") or done up in a jokey way that actually nails the satirical club rap Eminem was trying to achieve on Encore ("And We Danced"). This doesn’t make him a wholly new entity, but it does offer enough differentiation that you say to yourself, “I can welcome this into my collection, it’s not just another carbon copy of something I already have.” Plus, how often do you see a hip hop artist that doesn’t take himself seriously to the point where he’ll dress himself in a sequin cape and a butt rock wig for one of his songs? Total breath of fresh air.

So see him now before his new single, “Can’t Hold Us” explodes and he starts getting attached to arena shows that will only suck out the electricity circling him right now. This is the time and like that song says, “this is the moment.”

DOWNLOAD: Macklemore - Can't Hold Us (MP3) or Follow us for more Macklemore MP3s (Twitter)

Macklemore review to your liking? You'll sweat:

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