Macklemore

From his roots as an underground rapper heavily indebted to Atmosphere, Seattle rapper Macklemore shot to the top of the charts and frat-house playlists alike with his inescapable 2012 novelty hit “Thrift Shop,” and the hits kept coming from there. The Heist, his debut album with producer Ryan Lewis, became one of the best-selling rap LPs of that era, and earned the duo a 2014 Grammy for Best Rap Album. The duo released a follow-up album, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, that included an epic lead single, “Downtown,” which attempted to do for old-school hip-hop what “Uptown Funk” did for early-’80s funk. But for his latest album, Gemini, Macklemore decided to go it alone—it’s his first album without Lewis since his 2005 solo debut, The Language of My World. It features guest spots from Lil Yachty, Offset from Migos and Kesha.