B-13 Peer Review: The One to watch- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Up-and-coming Seattle rapper Macklemore plays first of three sold-out shows

Macklemore, the Capitol Hill rapper thought likely to succeed nationally this year, performs the first of three sold-out concerts Friday at the Showbox at the Market, in Seattle.

Macklemore (right), the Capitol Hill rapper thought likely to succeed nationally this year, performs the first of three sold-out concerts Friday with Ryan Lewis at the Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., Seattle (206-628-3151 or www.showboxonline.com). Their other performances are Sunday and March 5. To read a recent Seattle Times profile of the rapper, go towww.seattletimes.com and search Macklemore.

Ben Haggerty, better known by his stage name Macklemore, is an American musician. Macklemore works with Ryan Lewis (producer), Andrew Joslyn (violin) and Owour Arunga (trumpet). Haggerty has been releasing music independently since 2000, and has since gained a significant online fanbase. He has released one mixtape, three EPs and two albums without mainstream support. His music videos, including "Same Love" and "Thrift Shop," have been viewed on YouTube more than 30 million times.

Macklemore released his debut studio album The Heist on October 9, 2012, which entered at number 1 on the US iTunes download charts and No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 charts, selling 78,000 copies in the first week.

Growing up in Seattle, Washington, Haggerty attended Garfield High School and Nathan Hale High School, going on to earn a bachelor’s degree at The Evergreen State College. Interested in reaching a younger generation through his music, he took a job at a juvenile-detention facility. There, he was a part of a program called "Gateways" which was organized around rap.

Though not born to a musical family, both of his parents were supportive of his musical ventures. Macklemore was seven years old when hip hop first came in to his life byway of Digital Underground. As he grew older, he and his friends would spend their Summers making tents to stay in, listening to the radio, making dubs and mix-tapes of played songs for an inability to buy any due to being underage and without parental consent. Macklemore was fourteen when he first started writing lyrics.

Upon first starting to rap, Macklemore would listen to "a lot of East Coast underground hip hop .. Freestyle Fellowship .. Aceyalone, Living Legends", Wu-Tang Clan, "Nas, Talib .." being of much influence on him.

His father earned enough for Macklemore's mother not to need to work and commuted to Tacoma. Going to Garfield High School Macklemore observed a strong racial divide. Living in an all-white neighborhood, his school was racially diverse. Macklemore states he came to reflect on his ignorance of social status at the time; how race impacted where one was able to live and to work.