Cyrus Langhorne
Music duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have some legal heat on their heads. The Washington natives are accused of jacking their infectious “Thrift Shop” production from a jazz artist.
According to reports, musician Paul Batiste believes Mack and Ryan ripped his tunes.
Paul Batiste says “Thrift Shop” borrows heavily from 2 of his songs — “Hip Jazz” and “World of Blues.” He says the Macklemore track’s beat and horn melodies come from his songs, which were recorded back in 1997 and 2000. Batiste describes himself as a founding member of The Batiste Brothers Band, and a “major influence” of the current NOLA jazz scene. Whether you’ve heard of him or not isn’t really the issue — it’s what you hear in the music. (TMZ)
Last year, Mack talked about taking a jab at Iggy Azalea with his “White Privilege II” song.
“I don’t think people understood that I’m in my own head [saying], ‘You’re Miley, you’re Elvis, you’re Iggy Azalea’ — I’m talking about myself. … Iggy and I came up together. We were on the XXL ‘Freshmen’ cover together. There’s enough of a relationship that I should have let her know beforehand. And I didn’t do that.” (Billboard)
Prior to Mack’s words, white rapper Machine Gun Kelly explained his issues with the hard-hitting song.
“I think me and Macklemore exist in two different worlds. I would never think twice about marching next to my brother for an issue we both believe in. These are issues that I am actually facing. Cleveland, Ohio is the real deal. We’ve seen it happen especially moreso with all of these police shootings, friends of mine being killed, all of that happening within the past couple years. The tension is rising more and more and I just have no reason to think twice about standing for what I believe in. I don’t see these people as my black friends — these are my friends, these are my family, these are people in my city that we want to stand up for. I think just as much as racism is an issue so is classism. Economics runs the world. The one percent [of the population] get rich and fat, leaving the other 99 percent to suffer. I’m part of the 99 percent and I’m sticking up for everyone who is trying to do something with their lives and make it out.” (Billboard)
A couple months prior, MGK discussed his disinterest in categorizing hip-hop by skin tones.
“I’m not just a great white rapper, I’m a great rapper, why the f*ck is it about color,” MGK said when told he’s one of the top five greatest white rappers. “Race is not an issue. Race is an issue for people like Macklemore and sh*t. Bro, I’m comfortable in my own skin. I can’t help other people be the same way. Dog, I’m listening to the Rolling Stones, I can’t talk.” (TMZ)
