Macklemore

Macklemore, born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty on June 19, 1983, is an American rapper from Seattle, Washington. Raised in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood with his brother Tim, he grew up in a Catholic family with Irish heritage. Hip hop reached him early: he was six when he first heard Digital Underground, and by 15 he had begun writing lyrics. He came of age listening to East Coast underground hip hop, including Hieroglyphics, Freestyle Fellowship, Aceyalone, Living Legends, Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Nas, and Talib Kweli.

His stage name began as “Professor Macklemore,” created for an art project at Nathan Hale High School involving a made-up superhero. At Garfield High School, he formed a student hip-hop group called Elevated Elements, which released an album, Progress, in 2000. That same year, he recorded and self-distributed the mixtape Open Your Eyes. He later shortened his name to Macklemore and released his first official full-length album, The Language of My World, on January 1, 2005.

Education and community work also shaped his music. Haggerty attended the College of Santa Fe for a year, then returned to Seattle after not getting into its music program. He later enrolled at Evergreen State College in Olympia and completed his bachelor’s degree in 2009. While at Evergreen, he became interested in reaching a younger generation through music and took part in “Gateways for Incarcerated Youth,” a program focused on education and cultural identity, where he facilitated music workshops.

Macklemore first met Ryan Lewis in 2006, when Lewis worked on his promotion as a photographer. They became friends and formally began recording as Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in 2009. Their rise was unusually independent. The 2012 single “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz, became the first self-released song in 11 years to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, with a small percentage of sales paid to use Warner Bros. Records’s radio promotion department. “Can’t Hold Us,” featuring Ray Dalton, also reached number one, making them the first duo in the chart’s history to have their first two singles both hit the top spot.

The duo’s debut studio album, The Heist, was released in 2012 and peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won Best New Artist, Best Rap Album for The Heist, Best Rap Song for “Same Love,” and Best Rap Performance for “Thrift Shop.” Their second album, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, followed in 2016. Macklemore then returned as a solo artist with “Glorious,” featuring Skylar Grey, in 2017, followed by Gemini, which reached number 2 on the Billboard 200. His third solo album, Ben, was released on February 24, 2023, and peaked at number 18.

What gives Macklemore’s words their pull is the mix of sharp pop instinct, local grounding, and plainspoken self-examination. His music has drawn on friendship, identity, performance, and his own experience with substance abuse, including in “Otherside.” A line like “Just because you miss someone doesn’t mean you need them back in your life” fits that directness. It sounds less like a slogan than advice earned the hard way, which is why readers still pause over it.