Macklemore's commitment to sobriety with a newfound, more intrinsic dedication to his music leads him to gain commercial success.
- February 11, 2013
AceShowbiz -
Macklemore born Ben Haggerty gets lots of love from music fans through his creation with producer Ryan Lewis, "Thrift Shop". The independent music duo met an unexpected commercial success by climbing at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 and busting many other charts outside the country.
It's the first independently-distributed title to top the Billboard Digital Songs since "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" in February 2010. It is also the second independent song in history to reach the #1 spot on the U.S. single chart, nearly 20 years after Lisa Loeb did so with "Stay (I Missed You)" in 1994.
The song is taken from album "The Heist" which receives an equally warm acceptance. Containing 15 tracks, the CD peaked at No. 2 on Hot 200 and reached the first position on the iTunes chart despite having no mainstream promotion or support.
His journey to stardom is not sunshine and rainbow. In 2008, he went to rehab due to substance abuse. "I want to be someone who is respected and not just in terms of my music. I want to be respected in terms of the way that I treat people," he explained.
"The way, the subjects in which I choose to .. address through my music. And not because I'm, like, trying to make records about them. It's just that's what's important to me. Music is my creative outlet in terms of expressing what is important to me; what has importance, what has a value. And I wanna be respected for that."
