Macklemore and Ryan Lewis take the cover of Complex magazine’s August/September 2015 issue.
Here’s what they had to share with the mag:
Macklemore, on relapsing with marijuana and sleeping pills: “I held it together for a while. But, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings. I was burnt out. I was super-stressed. We weren’t sleeping – doing a show every day, zigzagging all over the country. In terms of the media I was getting put into a box that I never saw for myself. The pressure and the fame – everything. All the clichés, man – like not being able to walk around, having no privacy, and from this TV appearance to this TV appearance, and the criticism, and the lack of connection, and the lack of meetings – all of that put into one pie was just … I just wanted to escape.”
Macklemore, on having a baby: “I’ve been trying to grow up this year. Since I heard that Tricia was pregnant, I was like, I need to grow up right now. I’ve gotten back to what makes me happy.”
The pair, on racial issues: “Regardless of the song that I write, or that ends up coming out, it’s not going to do it… This needs to be part of my life’s work… Because, as a white male, the system’s designed for me to forget this sh-t quickly…And I don’t want to be that anymore. I don’t want to do just enough to get by in the conversation.”
For more from the musical duo, visit Complex.com.
