''This Unruly Mess I've Made'' is the second and final studio album by American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

duo

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were an American Hip hop music, hip hop duo from Seattle, Seattle, Washington, formed in 2009 by rapper MacklemoreTrust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard (magazine), B ...

. It was released on February 26, 2016, by Macklemore LLC and Alternative Distribution Alliance. Following the success of the duo's hit album '' The Heist'' (2012), which earned them their first

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

wins, the duo delved into lyrical themes that tackle political and social issues, including

white privilege White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the Social privilege, societal privilege that benefits white people over Person of color, non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or ...

, fame and the scrutiny of the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

and tabloids. The album was supported by two singles: "

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

" and " Dance Off", along with " White Privilege II" featuring Jamila Woods, which was released as the album's promotional single.

Background

Following the success of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' debut album '' The Heist'' (2012), Macklemore revealed the album cover artwork for their follow-up album, titled ''This Unruly Mess I've Made'', on January 15, 2016, on an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

post. The album was self-released on February 26, 2016. He also revealed on the trailer for their album on his official website, which features himself discussing about how their album was created and their inspiration for making the new music.

Singles

The duo's lead single for ''This Unruly Mess I've Made'', titled "

", was released on August 27, 2015. The song was produced by Ryan Lewis, who co-wrote it with Macklemore. The duo collaborated with artists including Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz on this track. The music video for "Downtown" featuring Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz, was also released on August 27, 2015. The album's second single, " Dance Off", was released on February 25, 2016, in Australia, New Zealand and selected countries of Europe. The song was not released in the United States. The song contains a dialogue from actor Idris Elba and a

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

from American recording artist Anderson .Paak. The music video for "Dance Off" featuring Idris Elba was released on May 17, 2016.

Promotional singles

"Growing Up (Sloane's Song)" featuring Ed Sheeran, was released on August 5, 2015. The previously- leaked track, " White Privilege II" featuring Jamila Woods, was released on January 22, 2016. " Brad Pitt's Cousin" was released on April 12, 2016, also in Australia and New Zealand. The song features guest vocals from Xperience.

Other songs

On February 24, 2016, the music video was released for "Kevin" featuring Leon Bridges.

Release

In the weeks and months of predating the album's release, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared three songs from the album such as "Downtown" featuring Kool Moe Dee,

Melle Mel Melvin Glover (born May 15, 1961), better known by his stage name Grandmaster Melle Mel or simply Melle Mel (), is an American rapper who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Career Glover began per ...

, Grandmaster Caz and Eric Nally, "Growing Up (Sloane's Song)" featuring

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

, and "Kevin" featuring Leon Bridges.

Critical reception

''This Unruly Mess I've Made'' has received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the score currently has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 17 reviews. Jeremy Gordon of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' gave the album a 5.1 out of 10, describing it as "an occasionally inspiring, often corny rap album made for winning Grammy nominations and waking the hearts of the unwoken." Louis Pattison of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' said, "It's equal parts witty and serious, poppy and knotty, cracking wise one minute, then demanding you sit quietly and listen carefully through some complicated soul-searching." Writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Mark Seliger said of the album, "On ''Unruly Mess'', Macklemore's confrontational side returns..." Ray Rahman of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the album a grade of B−, saying, "''Unruly Mess'' sees him embracing his role as a social justice champion, sent to expand the minds of his (mainly young, white, suburban) audiences."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, with 61,000

album-equivalent units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

; it sold 51,000 copies in its first week in the United States. The album debuted at number one on the US

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

. The album dropped to number 31 in its second week on the ''Billboard'' 200 and left the chart entirely after its seventh.

Track listing

;Notes * signifies an additional producer. * signifies a co-producer.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

;Footnotes ;Sources

External links

* {{Authority control 2016 albums Macklemore albums Ryan Lewis albums Self-released albums Albums produced by Ryan Lewis Albums produced by Budo (musician) Albums produced by Cardiak