Throwing back to the dog days of 2013, specifically the week of May 25, we find Macklemore & Ryan Lewis occupying the top spot of the Hot 100 with ‘Can’t Hold Us.’
I find with both Throwback Weekends and the Decades series that the closer I get to present day, the less I like the music. Give me the hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s all day every day, but once we get into the 90s, 00s and god forbid the 10s, it’s a minefield.
I don’t mean that as a shot at Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, specifically, but after recent weekends featuring Stevie Wonder, Michael and Janet Jackson, and even Little Peggy March, you have to admit this is a step down.
‘Can’t Hold Us’ spent five weeks at #1 and made Macklemore & Ryan Lewis the fifth act (and first duo) to have their first two singles reach #1 (‘Thrift Shop’ had achieved the feat less than a year earlier). ‘Can’t Hold Us’ was actually released first but picked up steam following the massive success of ‘Thrift Shop.’
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis made quite a splash in the mid-2010s, but received backlash after a strong showing at the 2014 Grammys. The duo won Grammys for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Performance, beating out the likes of Drake, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Kanye West for the rap awards and Kacey Musgraves, Ed Sheeran, and Lamar (again) for Best New Artist. Two white guys beating out that laundry list of Black rap talent was particularly galling to many critics.
The duo released a second album in 2016 before going on a hiatus that still continues.
Return of the Mack
Get ’em; what it is? What it does? What it is? What it isn’t?
Looking for a better way to get up outta bed
Instead of getting on the Internet
And checking on who hit me, get up
Thrift shop, pimp-strut walkin’
Little bit of humble, little bit of cautious
Somewhere between like Rocky and Cosby
Sweater game, nope, nope, y’all can’t copy, yeah
Bad, moonwalking, this here is our party
My posse’s been on Broadway, and we did it our way
Grown music, I shed my skin and put my bones
Into everything I record to it and yet I’m on
Let that stage light go and shine on down
Got that Bob Barker suit game and Plinko in my style
Money, stay on my craft and stick around for those pounds
But I do that to pass the torch and put on for my town
Trust me on my I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T shit, hustlin’
Chasing dreams since I was fourteen
With the four-track, bussin’
Halfway ‘cross that city with the back (Back) pack (Pack), fat (Fat) cat (Cat), crushin’
Labels out here, now they can’t tell me nothin’ (Hey, hey, hey)
We give that to the people, spread it across the country (Hey, hey, hey, oh)
Labels out here, now they can’t tell me nothin’ (Hey, hey, hey)
We give it to the people, spread it across the country (Hey, hey, hey, oh)
[Chorus: Ray Dalton]
Can we go back? This is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight ’til it’s over
So we put our hands up
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Can we go back? This is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight ’til it’s over
So we put our hands up
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
[Verse 2: Macklemore]
Now, can I kick it? Thank you
Yeah, I’m so damn grateful
I grew up really wanting gold fronts
But that’s what you get when Wu-Tang raised you
Y’all can’t stop me
Go hard like I got a 808 in my heartbeat
And I’m eating at the beat like you gave a little speed
To a great white shark on Shark Week, raw
Time to go off, I’m gone
Deuces, goodbye, I got a world to see
And my girl, she wanna see Rome
Caesar’ll make you a believer
Nah, I never ever did it for a throne
That validation comes from giving it back to the people
Now, sing a song, and it goes like
Raise those hands, this is our party (Hey, hey, hey)
We came here to live life like nobody was watching (Hey, hey, hey, oh)
I got my city right behind me, if I fall, they got me (Hey, hey, hey)
Learn from that failure, gain humility (Hey, hey, hey)
And then we keep marching, I said
[Chorus: Ray Dalton]
Can we go back? This is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight ’til it’s over
So we put our hands up
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Can we go back? This is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight ’til it’s over
So we put our hands up
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
[Interlude]
(And so we put our hands up)
(And so we put our hands up)
(Woah-oh, oh, oh)
(Woah-oh, oh, oh)
(Woah-oh, oh, oh)
[Bridge: Ray Dalton and Macklemore]
Let’s go
Na, na, na-na, na, na-na, na (Uh-huh)
Hey (And all my people sing)
Na, na, na-na, na, na-na, na (Hey, hey, that’s right)
Hey (Here we go, all right, uh)
And all my people sing
Na, na, na-na, na, na-na, na (You do it, Ray)
Oh (Ha-ha, let’s go)
And all my people sing
Na, na, na-na, na, na-na, na
Mackle-uh, uh, uh, uh, more
[Chorus: Ray Dalton]
Can we go back? This is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight ’til it’s over
So we put our hands up
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Like the ceiling can’t hold us
Can we go back? This is the moment (Ooh)
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight ’til it’s over (Ooh)
So we put our hands up (Ooh)
Like the ceiling can’t hold us (Ooh)
Like the ceiling can’t hold us (Ooh)
Meet Me In Montauk 
I tend to agree that, on the whole, the music from the 60s through 80s was better than the music of the 90s to 10s, but I suspect your parents would argue the music of the 40s to 60s was the best era and perhaps our kids would argue the 00s to 20s was better – though they would likely not put Macklemore up as the representative for their argument. They would more likely point to the artists who were dissed at the Grammy’s in favor of Macklemore, and then add in Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Beyoncé, Brandi Carlile, Ed Sheeran, etc.