After a long hiatus spent dealing with some personal issues, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are back to making music again. We already got our first taste of new material with Macklemore’s more low-key ode to his daughter on “Growing Up (Sloane’s Song),” but now the Seattle duo have returned with an upbeat comeback single in their new video “Downtown.”
With a huge 1980s influence (including hip-hop legends Grandmaster Caz, Grandmaster Melle Mel, and Kool Moe Dee), “Downtown” definitely has the feel of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ breakthrough “Thrift Shop.” How, exactly? Well, it’s a track with an enormous hook, courtesy of glam rocker Eric Nally from Foxy Shazam, it’s filled with non-sequiturs, has Moose motorcycles, dudes hanging on the corner in athletic jumpsuits, and mopeds. He’s really got a thing for mopeds. He’s buying in fully on that dork thing.
Also, Ken Griffey, Jr. is in the video? Of all the Seattle heroes… he’s probably the one they could get. Also, who didn’t have Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball on Super Nintendo? GOAT game. Still, the main takeaway here is that this is the track that Macklemore will probably be performing for the remainder of the year and will be on the radio all the time, so hopefully you air on the side of slightly enjoying it versus slightly hating it. If you kinda like it, it may get better. If you don’t really care for it, it’s only gonna get worse.
(via YouTube)
