Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
The Heist

In a period when hip hop seems to be struggling, at least in terms of authenticity and richness of sound and content, a true revival of the genre was necessary, as well as artists, songs, and albums capable of climbing the charts once again without having to bow to dance trends and compromising style missteps. The sound ghetto of the United States is indeed saturated with living incarnations of the classic cliché attributed to the hip hop territory, and mischievous poppish collaborations with mainstream artists and starlets teeter between predictable, bland, boring, and already heard. A notable exception to all this is the talked-about figure of Kanye West, a rapper-artist who has refused giant chains and extra-large shirts, offering a handful of dignified, rich, and inspired works, free of the now outdated and, it must be said, nauseating black stereotypes; regardless of an overly developed ego, grandiosity, and tendencies to denigrate the works of others, West has managed to produce a seriously and genuinely hip hop work such as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, rich in soul and alternative moments. He is probably the only one who has been skillful and particular in handling more pop and dance veins in 808s & Heartbreak, demonstrating a "European" and "electronic" approach that does not succumb to mass conformity. Another personality, perhaps less incisive than Kanye, is the young Canadian Drake, fresh from a pleasing Take Care and a good collaboration with the flirtatious Rihanna.

The rebirth, or rather the healthy and "clean" renewal of hip hop, could only start from artists and collectives determined to approach these sounds with naturalness, spontaneity, even in terms of media visibility, and with a small yet significant handshake to the simplicity of good chart-topping pop. And even the duo Macklemore - Ryan Lewis, the former an MC and the latter a producer and beatmaker, could do nothing but move in this much more "sober" direction. Although the friendship and collaboration between the blond Macklemore and Lewis can boast a considerable dating and their creative journey is very close to the decade mark since its official inauguration, the duo burst onto the scene last season with the semi-hit Thrift Shop, a song that can truly ascend to a genuine resurrection of "old school" top ten hip hop. The single, although released after a sequence of other tracks far from breaking into the chart's hearts, inaugurated the fortunate path of The Heist, the first real step into the mainstream context. If Thrift Shop is a sort of tasty funky-hip hop compromise, the rest of the production veers on a path that unfolds in territories of soul, alternative, partially pop, R&B, conscious-gangsta with ethnic-tribal tracks, the latter can be savored in the frenetic "samba" approach of Can't Hold Us. Particularly significant is Same Love, a reflection on LGBT emancipation turned into a folk-instrumental lullaby, while Ten Thousand Hour "shrinks" into a vaguely pop urban flirtation. With Neon Cathedral and Thin Line, one immerses in "alternative" trip-hop places, while Make The Money embraces melodic and orchestral hip hop akin to Kanye West. From West, it shifts to "mimicking" the currently inactive Eminem with Wing$, a piece fiercely rapped, accompanied by the classic white-choir gospel; other good specimens can be found in White Walls, much more oriented towards contemporary R&B, and the frenzy of hip-hop synthesizers in Jimmy Iovine.

Being largely unfamiliar with the hip-hop territory and its derivatives and unable to carefully evaluate a genre that does not see me as an "adept," I can still appreciate the rather successful attempt to give a new twist to the "ghetto-style," linking it to the purity of sentiment and intentions and contaminating it carefully with various instrumentations. I don't think I'm in front of a monument of hip hop-soul-black culture like the great MCs of the nineties and the various female voices associated with this trend; however, The Heist can perfectly convey the idea of a healthy hip-hop album, digestible and assimilable even for non-aficionados like myself.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist

Ten Thousand Hours - Can't Hold Us - Thrift Shop - Thin Line - Same Love - Make The Money - Neon Cathedral - Bombom - White Walls - Jimmy Iovine - Wing$ - A Wake - Gold - Starting Over - Cowboy Boots - Castle - My Oh My - Victory Lap.