Macklemore Wasn’t Sure He Could Carry On Creatively Without Ryan Lewis At His Side

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis made waves in the hip-hop industry soon after their debut. The duo announced their hiatus back in 2017, which lasted for four years until 2021. Macklemore is now opening up about how he felt back when the two split.

“Thrift Shop” artist recently appeared for an interview with Rolling Stone, where he discussed several things including the time that he relapsed. He also talked about his latest single “Chant,” and the inspirations behind it. He said the song symbolized “a bit of a rebirth” for him.

The 39-year-old rapper opened up about his drug relapse in 2020. This happened when he was on road to recovery from years of drug and alcohol abuse. The rapper described this as one of the most critical moments of his life. He discussed how far he has come since then.

It was really painful for myself and for the people who loved me. I stopped doing the work. When I have to be still and exist within my own head, that’s where my disease lives… [But] I’m like, ‘You know what? I don’t need to pretend like I’m some perfect dude in recovery.’ I am not at all, and there’s no shame.

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The rapper also shed light on the split with Lewis. The duo worked together for a decade but decided to take a break, so they can have “creative space.” Macklemore initially had no idea what he was going to do after the split, and thought it was “nuts.”

We needed a break. We were together damn near every day for that decade. That’s intense. And we’re so comfortable with each other, so honest with each other, that it can be daunting. We needed some space, both of us. He was the one that initiated it in the first place. I was kind of at the time like, ‘Oh my God. What am I going to do? This is nuts.’

What am I going to do?

Macklemore had to turn to his wife for advice as he felt completely lost after that. “What you’ve always done. Go downstairs and make art. This is not complicated for you. This is what you do. This is your craft. Go down and exercise it,” she said.

After being out of the music scene for a while, Macklemore is slowly gearing up for a return. The Grammy-winning rapper released the uplifting single “Chant,” featuring Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I, last week.

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