Always eager to trumpet anything with a modicum of substance, I went ahead and gave Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist a spin, and it turned out to be a box of gems —two artists with plain names I had never heard of furnish beats and lyrics suitable for headphones (which makes the few speakerbox moments fresh), occasionally enlightening (“Wings” highlights sneaker culture’s entanglement with consumerism culture, “A Wake” examines the devolution of modern rap with respectable nuance), and always serious in fun, especially on the standout “Thrift Store; I can live without some of the syrupy beats, but there’s a lot to learn from the modest mix of humor and honesty.
See also: My 800-word, multi-sentence take on The Heist
