Macklemore Says Kendrick Lamar “Had A Better Rap Album,” Wants To Work With Kanye West

Carl Williott | January 7, 2014 9:28 am

Macklemore was named The Source‘s Man of the Year, which will immediately enrage all the Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Eminem stans out there. And they’d all have a point. THAT BEING SAID — in the accompanying article, Macklemore is saying all the right things. He realizes he has (somewhat unfairly) become a piñata in the hip-hop world, and is approaching the whole scenario with modesty and levelheadedness. Instead of having a chip on his shoulder and taking shots, he’s lauding his rap peers. Case in point: “If we win a Grammy for Best Rap Album, hip-hop is going to be heated. In terms of [that category], I think it should go to Kendrick… I would love to win in a different category. We obviously had massive success on commercial radio, and I think that, in ways, The Heist was a bigger album, but Kendrick has a better rap album.” We sure hope the Grammy cabal reads this interview.

The Seattle MC also talked a bit about Ye (the Grammy chunk of the interview started with a question about the potential for a Kanye rant if The Heist were to win). “Kanye told me the first time that he heard [‘Thrift Shop’] on the radio, he was in LA, and he was listening to it in his car,” Macklemore relayed. “He said he turned it the f— up and said, ‘This dude is about to be famous.'”

Then he floated out the prospect of a Ye collab. “I always used to say, “My goal is I want to be on G.O.O.D. Music.’ That would be my ideal. But I think that, you know, I could work with Kanye without having to sign to G.O.O.D. Music. I want to build my own G.O.O.D. Music.”

Macklemore is here to stay, and it doesn’t matter whether you want him to or not. But hey, at least dude can rap.

[via MTV]