"My City's Filthy"

Though I don't follow as closely as I did back in high school, I've always tried to keep up with Seattle's music scene. It’s been a couple years since I’ve even been to a show, actually, but I still make sure to buy the albums and support these local artists. One of which is Macklemore, who I've followed since he dropped his first album, The Language of My World, back in 2005 and have been waiting and wanting another one ever since. He recently released The Unplanned Mixtape and The Vs. EP as of late, which I enjoy. Also, I have been impressed with the use of social media as a way of promoting oneself. Thinking back, didn’t MySpace start out just for musicians?

I am continuously impressed by the creativity of Macklemore but his genius extends far beyond himself and his music. Zia Mohajerjasbi, who has also produced Blue Scholars and Common Market music videos, did an incredible job of using blogs/twitter/vimeo/youtube to promote the music video for Macklemore’s The Town. I like to dabble in the world of video editing, so I was very appreciative of Zia to post videos about the process of its creation. Not only was this informative, but it definitely built up a lot of anticipation for the final product. I would literally check daily to see if it was posted yet. The end result was extraordinary. Not only was the song great to start out with, but the cinematography itself really added to the experience. Kudos.


Also, Macklemore’s producer, Ryan Lewis is talented. The video Fake Empire is constructed wonderfully. Apparently, it was “shot entirely on regular SLR cameras (Canon 5D, Nikon D3, etc.), batch-edited in Photoshop and produced in Final Cut Pro.” I cannot believe the amount of meticulous work that went into the editing. Again, Kudos. I really urge everyone to take a look at these videos and the rest of their music. (Note Macklemore riding bikes along Alki Beach in Fake Empire- That's my 'hood!)