Maybe baby Sloane’s been keeping him up at night? His casual, stream-of-consciousness style and sleepy tone of voice might be intentional, but they lend the song an unfinished rough-draft quality. The way he hits those beats throughout “Growing Up,” though, feels like lazily ticking off items on a new-dad checklist, and the images of youthful zest he evokes are so generic that they might as well be scenes from some fashion label’s TV ad. I can even sympathize with his excuse-making about going on tour, although I feel queasy about the thought of a career that takes me away from my family for weeks at a time. Any dad can identify with Haggerty’s self-doubt, and we all can appreciate his desire to pass on his worldview and the works that shaped it. No one can doubt the guy’s sincerity when he wishes his daughter will go camping, attend music festivals, watch sunsets on rooftops with friends, and pursue her passion - all sentiments that resonate with me. I’m less willing to forgive Macklemore’s vanilla streak because unlike Lewis’ emotional swoop, these rhymes don’t move me. He knows how to make clichés reverberate with life. His musical vision might be a little basic for listeners who long to be challenged or curbstomped by hip-hop production, but the guy’s clearly got a gift. Note the less-is-more kickdrum oomph during the song’s climax and how long Lewis waits to bring back the crisp backbeat at the end. Note the minimal piano flourishes that slide in and out of the background. Note the way that hijacked bassline gives way to ethereal U2 guitars at the start of the second verse. Even the blatant “Walk On The Wild Side” rip (or is it a “Can I Kick It” rip?) and Sheeran’s cloying presence can’t ruin what is essentially a quality composition from a skilled craftsman. Lewis can make beats like this one in his sleep, but like all accomplished rap producers with a potent signature sound, you can’t fault him too much for staying in his territory. I am the target audience, and I think “Growing Up” is deeply and irreparably meh. I published a pile of blubbering goop about Kanye West’s “ Only One” months before my baby was even born, and I’ve only gotten sappier since then. I’m also an open-minded music fan with a sentimental streak and a taste for pop, rap, and pop-rap. My wife gave birth to our first child, also a daughter, three weeks after Macklemore’s fianceé ( now wife) Tricia Davis brought baby Sloane into the world. My personal objection to “Growing Up” is that it fails at its primary objective: tugging the heartstrings of new parents. If nothing else, credit these guys for sticking to their guns. “Growing Up” is exactly what you’d imagine a Macklemore song for his newborn child would sound like, and it will polarize in the way all Macklemore songs polarize. It’s got an impassioned chorus from a guest singer - in this case, ubiquitous folk-pop hobbit Ed Sheeran. It’s got a slightly gravely Macklemore dropping sentimental and/or inspirational lyrics derived from his personal experiences of How Life Should Be. The song bears Lewis’ unmistakable fingerprints, a rich live-band/DJ hybrid arrangement topped off with triumphal brass. Released yesterday as a free download, it marks Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ first new music since 2012’s star-making The Heist, and it suggests the formula that launched them into the pop stratosphere is still firing on all cylinders. What will probably not win Macklemore respect from his haters is “Growing Up (Sloane’s Song),” the track he wrote for his new baby daughter, Sloane Ava Simone Haggerty. It’s a good read, and it might win some begrudging respect from those who’ve made a sport out of scoffing at “the first rapper to successfully dominate the commercial sphere by speaking from a purely white gaze.” “serious” songs), and the way they’re trying to keep their operation grassroots now that they’re global superstars. Regarding “White Privilege 2,” a new anti-racism song he’s been workshopping, he poses the question, “How do I participate in this conversation in a way that I’m not preaching, where I’m not appearing like I know it all? ‘Cause I don’t know it all.” Writer Kris Ex also offers closer looks at Ryan Lewis’ in-depth production style, the duo’s perspective on constructing an album (it involves a carefully plotted ratio of “fun” songs vs. It also reveals that three years of blowback about appropriation, moralism, and that whole Grammy ordeal have made the Seattle rapper keenly aware of his place in the universe. The feature details how Ben Haggerty’s rapid rise to fame toppled him back into drug addiction and how learning he would be a father spurred him to kick pills and weed by returning to 12-step meetings. If you want to approach Macklemore as a human being and not a sanctimonious rap-Muppet bent on world domination via free love and cheap clothing, Complex’s recent cover story is a good place to start.
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