servingactofcontrition.SomeLGBTcrit-
icsdeemed“SameLove”patronising;oth-
ersthoughtitwasn’tMacklemore’splace
to criticise hip-hop, in the song’s second
verse, as broadly homophobic.
ThevalenceofMacklemore’slyricscan
vary depending on who feels addressed by
them: Gay people don’t need his permis-
sion to love one another, of course, but some
reflexively homophobic listener of “Same
Love” might find his prejudices challenged.
Of the critiques that will emerge in re-
sponse to “White Privilege II”, Macklemore
says, “This song was a processing-out-loud.
Itwasn’tlike,‘Howcanwebeatcriticsto
thepunch?Howcanweexemptourselves
from this angle, this angle, this angle?’ It
waslike,‘Icancontinuetobesafeandto
rest in my privilege, and to not speak up,
andthesystemperpetuatesitself,orIcan
trytoengageintheconversation,knowing
thatIdon’thavealltheanswers,knowing
thatIhavesomuchtolearn.’”
When I mention mainstream whites
whomightbeputofbythe“ThriftShop”
guy rapping that the American flag is a
symbol of white supremacy, Macklemore
replies, “At a certain point, this song
mightafectsalesorafecttouring,but
it just doesn’t matter if I’m not speaking
up–ifI’mnotpushingmyselftospeak
the truth.”A
fter rehearsal,
Lewis rides his fat-
tired black motorcy-
cle, a modified Har-
ley known as an Iron
Guerilla, to the water-
front building he and
Mackle more converted into their Seat-
tle headquarters. On the ground fl oor is a
recording room with a ton of audio gear,
a wall of guitars and racks of outlandish
garments spouting sequins, fringe and
feathers. “Those are Ben’s,” Lewis notes.
There is a kitschy velvet painting of a bald
eagle, an oil painting of Drake dancing
and a transfixing rendition of a naked
Justin Bieber with maple syrup pouring
down his chest onto a pancake balanced on
his boner. “Ben spent a lot of time buying
weird stuf on Etsy,” Lewis says.
Macklemore arrives. Tricia, funny
and warm, is upstairs, helping to tend to
business, and Sloane is here too; he won’t
see her for a couple of weeks. She’s a big kid
for her age, with blue eyes and a little pair
of w inged Jeremy Scott Adidas on her feet.
She extends her little fi st toward me for a
bump. “She’s giving you dap!” Macklemore
says, beaming with rap-dad delight.
A few hours later, he and Lewis board
their Alaska Airlines f light to Phoenix.
They fl y coach, per usual; their destinationis a Holiday Inn Express. The duo splash
out in some ways – gold watches, cars, mo-
torcycles, multimillion-dollar houses – but
are spendthrift in others. “Tricia books our
travel, and she’s so cost- conscious,” Quillen
says. “That extends from fl ying coach to the
hotels she gets us. We’ll be like, ‘Really? The
Ramada Inn?’ ”
Rehearsal starts the following morn-
ing. The Macklemore crew has taken over
the 5,000-seat Comerica Theatre a few
days ahead of the tour’s start to slap every-
thing into shape. After eight hours of rap-
ping the same songs over and over, Mack-
lemore, feeling loopy, takes to spouting
streams of gibberish. When the rehears-
als end, he calls a meeting, asking every-
one in the crew to sit in a big circle on-
stage. Crouched on a monitor, he says he’s
excited to work with everyone, that they’re
gonna have “a season like the Seahawks”.
Then he cedes the fl oor to the tour’s secu-
rity director, Terrell, who lays out ground
rules, among them no use of social media
behind the scenes and, also crucial, “no
taking shits on the bus”.
Everyone laughs, but Macklemore is
clearly preoccupied. Soon enough he leaves
the stage, changes into a hoodie and climbs
into a car idling outside the theatre – he’s
found a recovery meeting happening near-
by, and he doesn’t want to be late.May, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 81GETTY IMAGES
On tour in LA
in February