Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
This Unruly Mess I've Made
Release Date: February 26, 2016 (available now)
Label: Macklemore LLC
Starting around the end of February, I received a slew of albums for review, in addition to the ones that I had personally wanted to check out on my own. Life got in the way, and a lot of the albums I was sent were scrapped for review. Thankfully, I kept a list of every album and EP that I wanted to write some kind of review for. This one was not sent to me for review. I did not request a review copy of it, but I wanted to make sure that I talked about it in some capacity.
2011 saw the release of an album that broke boundaries, not only with its lyrical content, but with its ability to top charts having never been signed to a record label of any kind. Let me elaborate on this: The Heist, the debut record from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Top 200. With no label backing. There was some support from the WMG Radio Promotion Department in regards to helping push the singles, but still...no label. This is an astounding feat for any artist, let alone an artist releasing their debut record.
Five years passed, and now we see the next chapter in the story of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: This Unruly Mess I've Made, an album that address every question and harassment passerby have thrown at both the MC and the producer. While tongue-in-cheek moments are abound ("Dance Off", "Let's Eat", "Brad Pitt's Cousin"), This Unruly Mess I've Made delivers one of the most important songs of the last few years, entitled "White Privilege" (the last track on the record). "Light Tunnels" tells us exactly what Macklemore was thinking the night he won his Grammy Award.
There are some slower moments throughout the record ("St. Ides", "The Train") but it's a nice contrast to some of the more upbeat material. You get a little bit of everything on This Unruly Mess I've Made. It's not a sophomore slump by any means, and we get a truthful, honest glimpse into the artists that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have been shaped into over the past several years.
This has been another Shameless Promotion.