“This Unruly Mess I’ve Made” is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s sophomore album. Three years after the release of Grammy winning “The Heist”, Macklemore is back. Within the three years, Macklemore got married, now has a baby and relapsed. Macklemore attempted to put some of his struggles into this album and share them with the listeners.

Here is a review of each song on the album and my overall thoughts on the album in general.

1. Light Tunnels:

Light Tunnels is a song about Macklemore’s guilt at the Grammy’s in 2014. He talks about how he doesn’t like how he can make it to the Grammy’s, but some of his friends won’t ever make it, even though he believes they are more talented. He also talks about how the Grammy’s aren’t what they show on television and how it feels very fake in real life.

Overall the song has a very strong message. Macklemore does a great job at describing how he felt at the time. The beat sounds great and Mike Slap does a great job with his feature. The song is overall a great way to open the album. 8/10.

2. Downtown:

Downtown was Macklemore’s second single that he released from this album back in August. The song features Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee and Eric Nally. The song talks about buying mopeds and driving them around downtown.

The beat is very catchy and uses a nice variation of base and falsetto. The song is very strange, but it makes for a very entertaining piece in the album. I do however, think that it should have come later on the album and not right after Light Tunnels, it ruins some of the continuity of the album. Overall Downtown is very fun to listen to even after hearing it for the six months it has been out. 7/10.

3. Brad Pitt’s Cousin:

Brad Pitt’s Cousin is a song that is more for fun than serious, as is to be expected by the name of the song. There is no real issues addressed in this track. The song doesn’t make much sense. He starts by talking about his cat’s Instagram, he then talks about him being Brad Pitt’s ugly cousin ,onion rings, Deez Nuts, all his Angelina’s, texting with God, and a lot of other miscellaneous subjects.

The song is very catchy and fun to listen to. The beat is great, the only real problem with this track is that none of it makes sense. Overall the hook is great and it’s very entertaining. 8/10.

4. Buckshot:

Buckshot is a song about graffiti art. The track features KRS-One and DJ Premier. He spends the entire song talking about doing graffiti. Macklemore’s part in this song is not the highlight of the song instead it is the presence of KRS-One that makes this song enjoyable. The beat is good, but there is a somewhat annoying mosquito noise in the background. Overall this song is enjoyable if you can get over the mosquito noise in the background. 7/10.

5. Growing up:

Growing Up is a song about Macklemore’s baby, Sloane. The song features Ed Sheeran. The song mostly addresses Sloane and gives her advice on how to do well later in life, such as studying David Bowie, giving her mom a compliment every day, and learning to be selfless. The song was released back in August. It however is not available on Spotify and can’t be purchased on iTunes unless the entire album is purchased.

The beat is slower and it’s not hip-hop, but more like slow pop. Ed Sheeran sounds great, as he usually does, and Macklemore does excellent, even though this isn’t his usual type of song. Everything about this album flows. I personally don’t believe this belonged on this album, mainly for the genre difference, but it must be very meaningful to Macklemore and he couldn’t leave it off. 6/10.

6. Kevin:

Kevin is a song about Macklemore’s friend ‘Kevin’ that lost his life to overdosing on prescription drugs. In the song Macklemore attacks big pharmacies. The song features Leon Bridges. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis just released a music video for Kevin. He first performed Kevin at the American Music Awards back in November.

Leon Bridges is a very talented soulful singer and it is definitely seen in this song. The beat is great and the song has a very strong meaning. A lot of people can probably relate. Macklemore’s part in the song is very strong and upbeat, whereas Leon Bridges part is very calming. The message is good, and I personally believe it is a good thing that Macklemore is getting this message out in the media. 9/10.

7. St. Ides:

This is a very slow song which is different considering the large majority of this album is very upbeat. This is the only song on the album that doesn’t have any features. The song is about St. Ides, which is a malt liquor, and Macklemore basically giving up on it and realizing there was more to his life, like his family and his daughter.

Almost everything about this song is good. The instrumentals throughout the song are very nice. Macklemore’s voice is very calming in this song and it’s very meaningful. The only real downfall of this song is that it is a slower song on an album full of upbeat songs such as Brad Pitt’s Cousin. Overall I thought it was good. 8/10.

8. Need to Know:

Need to Know is a song about lying and hiding the truth, because the truth is too hard for us to handle. In the song Macklemore addresses how he wishes he could go back to what he was before he became famous, back in 2012 with the success of “The Heist”. The song features Chance the Rapper.

This is probably my favorite, if not, second favorite track on the album. The hook is the best part of the song. Macklemore’s and Chance the Rapper’s voices sound great together. The beat is great and well-paced. The song is neither to slow nor too fast. 9/10.

9. Dance Off:

Dance Off is a very up-tempo song. It is all about having a dance off. The song features Idris Elba and Anderson .Paak. I was honestly very disappointed by this song. When I first heard that Macklemore and Anderson .Paak were doing a collaboration I was very excited. I’m not saying the entire song was awful. In-fact it really isn’t a bad song. Just underwhelming from what it could have been.

I honestly felt like I was listening to a horror song every time I heard Idris Elba’s voice. Half the song is filled with inappropriate themes. The song however was catchy and did have a good beat. It reminded me of Castle from “The Heist”. Overall this song had a lot of potential and I personally didn’t feel like it lived up to what it could have been. 4/10.

10. Let’s Eat:

Let’s Eat is a heart-warming song about not following through on diets. It is full of comedy, and its overall just supposed to be a fun song. The song features XP. XP only really had one part, which was basically listing foods that he liked, and it worked very well. Macklemore is funny and does this song really well.

The beat is mediocre but the humor is the saving factor of this song. There are probably a lot of people out there that will hate this song, because they don’t appreciate the humor. Overall, I think that Let’s Eat is one of the more entertaining song on this album and is definitely one to listen to. 8/10.

11. Bolo Tie:

Bolo Tie is about how the music industry is not fair, even though he already addressed that in Light Tunnels. Even though the message is the same he took a different approach at it, being more vulgar and bringing up how the industry can’t control what he does. The track features YG, and he does a very good job.

I feel that Macklemore didn’t do that great of a job with this track. The bass is good, but the rest of the song is pretty disappointing. It is somewhat slower than I think it should have been. He again, readdressed the same issue he did in the beginning of the album, but not in a better way. I enjoyed Light Tunnels quite a bit more and believe that Bolo Tie was just a space filler on the album. 5/10.

12. The Train:

The Train is the only track on the album that isn’t labeled as explicit. It is about him leaving all his friends and family. It features Carla Morrison. All of her lines were in Spanish, and it just felt odd on this album.

Overall there isn’t much to say about this track. It sounds good, but it isn’t upbeat and it’s somewhat boring compared to the other songs on this album. It just doesn’t feel natural with the other songs. 4/10.

13. White Privilege II

White Privilege II is the follow up to Macklemore’s White Privilege from his 2005 album “The Language of my World”. The song is Macklemore talking about his stance on the Black Lives Matter movement. The track has gotten a lot of hate because Macklemore is a white rapper, and he is using his white privilege to discourage white privilege. The song features Jamila Woods, who does a great job finishing off the album.

The track has a deep and controversial message. The song is almost nine minutes long, the beat is all over the place, and it probably is not the most effective way Macklemore could have went about talking about this issue. Musically this song isn’t very good, but I believe the message it does have is very good. 7/10.

Overall, I really enjoyed this album. It is a good album, and I really liked how Macklemore stayed true to himself. “This Unruly Mess I’ve Made” is definitely an album I would recommend if you are a fan of hip-hop that has a meaning. I give “This Unruly Mess I’ve Made” a 7/10.

18kmathias@usd489.com