Crafting Your Artistic Path | Breaking the Business Barrier

Don't let people's outside perspectives change what you do. The easiest thing to do is to not live presently. I don't want to be in the studio every single day, all the time.

You know, we never sat out to be like, "Yo, like, we're gonna make this song about thrift shops, and it's gonna be—

it's gonna go multi-platinum." Because I know that I want to live up to my fullest potential. I want to be the best human being that I can possibly be. I had always wanted to get sober. I could never get sober. Did you ever want to just give up on your dream? Yes. Earlier today.

It's not about what you're born with. It's not about the talent that you're born with. It's about the hours that you put into that talent.

We did poetry readings, and really what that was was just a cappella raps. And I don't want to look back and be like, you had it all and you weren't even present for it.

He's an American rapper from Seattle, Washington. Since 2000, he has independently released one mixtape, 3 EPs, and 4 albums. His single Thrift Shop hit number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 2013. He's Macklemore, and here are his top 10 rules for success.

Don't let people's outside perspectives change what you do, change who you are, dictate your happiness, dictate your level of self-worth, affect your self-esteem. And as an artist, that's easier said than done. The public's perception does weigh on you. The box that they put you in does affect you. And I think that it's a constant fight to remember why you make music, who you do it for, why it's important, and to follow your process and to not let anybody's outside opinion dictate who you are. You know it. I think that the easiest thing to do is to not live presently. In life, we are consistently in the past, in the future, anywhere but right now. And I think for myself as a performer, it is important to slow down and to remember what I'm doing, why I'm here, remember the words that I wrote, the feeling that I had when I wrote them, and deliver that in the same emotion that I had when I was in that moment writing the music. Both Ryan and I are at times— I don't want to say envious, but we look at other people. Like, you take Kendrick. Kendrick is a rapper. Kendrick is in the studio right now. I guarantee it. He's not thinking about that the merch design that we have right now isn't fitting on a tank top the way that it should. It's true. And that's a blessing and a curse. We both are the output in terms of anything creative. It's a music video, if it's directing, if it's writing a treatment, if it's being a character in the music video, we are everything. Same thing with their merch, same thing with just the ideas that we have. Full circle in terms of running a business. So that's taking away time that we could be working on our specific crafts, producing and rapping. So I think that it's a balance. We both enjoy business. We both enjoy being holistically creative. That's a fulfilling thing. I don't want to be in the studio every single day all the time. I want to be picking fonts. I want to be— with Ryan color editing a music video. That's something that we both enjoy. So it's a balance, and I think that we wear enough hats that we can kind of bounce around and be inspired, but it comes at a sacrifice.

You know, we never sat out to be like, "Yo, we're gonna make this song about thrift shops, and it's gonna go multi-platinum, and it's gonna be on the—" We didn't have in our mind any songs that would ever work at radio. So I think we went into the same process with this one. And maybe nothing ends up on the radio. That's great.

Fuck you, money.

That's because we have fuck you money. There you go.

There you go.

No, it's because it's truly because the art is what matters and not sales and not the radio. We care about the art. And if that's the compromise of not tapping back into a pop audience or not being in arenas or not being in theaters or whatever, we're going to make the art that we want to make.

As a songwriter, you strive for that perfection, but the thing that can kill you with it, and that I learned from that website that I went to, the thing that can kill you with it is if you let that perfectionism stop you from beginning in the first place. And so much of like what goes into making a song, it takes courage. It takes, you know, you're battling some fear. If you have a good song, you've got to write another good song. There's expectation, and the pressure first and foremost comes from yourself. So, staring in front of a blank piece of paper is a challenging thing, and it always has been. It was challenging when I was 16 years old writing for the first time. It was challenging at 30 years old. It's hard, because I know that I want to live up to my fullest potential. I want to be the best human being that I can possibly be, and I want to make the best art that I can. But sometimes you have to write just to write. And if that turns into something great, hone it until it's the best that it can be, and then eventually put the paintbrush down, put like the final coat of lacquer on the canvas, and just walk away. And that's perfect, and that's the same with— In 2009, when the mixtape, and there was a period where I think around that time you were kind of like, is this something that's going to work for me or not? What is it that got you through? How did you work through that? Yeah, it's tough to say exactly what it was. I think it was hard work. It was discipline. It was knowing that if this doesn't work out, then I will have to get a 9 to 5. And I don't want to do that. No. I really don't want to do that. And it was working with Ryan and putting everything into the music. And leading up to that point, I think that you have to look at my track record. I had always wanted to get sober. I could never get sober. I couldn't make music while I was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Finally got sober in 2008, got out of rehab, and was like, all right, this is it. I've wasted years of my life. And if this is going to work, it has to work now. There's no alternative. And I met somebody that had the same dedication as me, that put everything into the music, everything into the craft, and didn't go out, didn't really have many friends. Just kidding. Just kidding. We only hang out with each other. No, it's somebody that wasn't going to be like— up until that point, I was making music with people that were constantly putting their priorities into getting— Cooler people. No, not at all. Getting loaded or chasing women or whatever. And that's what I did for a long time. And it led me to being broken in rehab and moving back into my parents' house, which is awesome. But I wanted a career. And Ryan was somebody that had the same discipline. And sacrificed everything. Did you ever want to just give up on your dream? Yes, earlier today. It happens all the time. That's kind of part of being an artist, I feel like, is being challenged to push through those moments of like, is this what I'm supposed to do? And the people that succeed and the people that make it in the music industry, I think that never goes away. That's something that you kind of always are fighting and working against. That's the process of being an artist.

By the time I got to college, I made this album called The Language of My World.

Yeah!

And with this album, I did the same thing. I locked myself in my room for like all of college. That was it. I just worked my ass off in my room and kept writing, kept recording. And I wasn't great going into college, but by the time I got out, I had kind of like learned a little bit of the craft. And by the time that I got out of college, I read this book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Nobody's ready here. One person. Anyway, this book examines— this book examines this theory, right? And Malcolm Gladwell makes this point. He says it's not about what you're born with, it's not about the talent that you're born with, it's about the hours that you put into that talent. And he says that around— if you want to be a master, whatever it is that you love to do, if you want to develop that craft to its utmost potential, what you have to do work. You have to work a lot. You have to put in hours. And he says that if you put in around 10,000 hours into that one thing, then eventually you will master that craft. I don't know how close I am to 10,000 hours, but every single time we step on stage, we get one step closer.

Hip-hop in Seattle in the late '90s was grunge music. It was very different. It was a very small scene. It was a couple hundred people versus, you know, it's very different now. And we would— we didn't have a place to perform. You know, there was no venues. There was no people to fill the venues if we could book the venues. So what we did was we did poetry readings. And really what that was was just a cappella raps. But those took place on Mondays, and a lot of people would get together, a lot of people being like 15, 20 people, and spit each other raps that they'd been working on that week. And that was a place that we honed our skills on a stage. And I don't know if anybody out there is a performer, but it's a lot more challenging to perform in front of 15 people a cappella than it is for 20,000 people. It's a lot more intimate, and that got me to a place of performance where I felt comfortable and was able to then transition that into the stage. But it was an imperative part of my process. Be grateful, be happy, and enjoy this because it's not promised. Who knows where we're going to be in a year, 2 years, 3 years? We're at this position now, and I don't want to look back and be like, you had it all. And you weren't even present for it. You weren't able to enjoy it. I want to be here, be now, and, and be grateful.

Thank you so much for watching. I made this video because Anna Young asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of McLemore's top 10 rules had the biggest impact on you. Which one did you like the most? Leave it in the comments and I'll join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.