Quotes from Macklemore

I learned from my teachers but became through my music

I write to the beat and let life play the guitar strings

I'm not more or less conscious than any other rapper out there.

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 be grateful.

I don't feel like I'm grown up. I feel like I'm a kid.

Thrift shopping is all about going into the thrift shop and having no expectation of what you might find.

I shop at thrift shops probably five times a week.

Consciousness rap - a term that I don't think exactly exists but gets thrown around a lot - is not exactly popular.

I think that civil rights issues take a lot of time to develop.

Strip away the fear, underneath it's all the same love

I think that there will always be artists out there who think they need to sign a major label deal in order to be successful. And that machine is what is going to work for them - there's tons of examples of pop stars who need that machine.

No law's gonna change us We have to change us Whatever god you believe in We come from the same one Strip away the fear, underneath, it's all the same love About time that we raised up!

Whatever God you believe in, we come from the same one

The reason why I meditate and pray in general is just to remind myself that it is not about me.

I think people are enticed by indie rap and every time you have a group going against the grain, they're gonna be like, 'Wow, you did it yourself in 2012, that's impressive - how did you do it? What're you doing that's different? And how can I be a part of it?'

It's easier, as a white person, to be silent about racial injustice. It's easier. On paper. But it's not easier on the whole, because injustice affects all of us, whether we know it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not.

You can only watch injustice go on for so long until you're compelled to say something. To speak out against it.

I put myself in the place of the listener when editing my writing. The last thing that I want to do is be preached at and told who to be or what to think when listening to an artist. However, I do want to be inspired. There's a fine line.

It's weird because music is this thing that you love doing, and it comes completely from a place of creativity, and then that transfers into having to manage a business and make decisions and figure out what is the best route to go in terms of getting your product to as many people as possible.

The trust that I once built has been betrayed. But I'd rather live tellin' the truth and be judged for my mistakes, than falsely held up, given props, loved and praised.

The man that got me into collecting sneakers in the first place was the man they call Michael Jordan. He was the one who kind of exposed me to the sneaker world - he was my favorite basketball player, and he had the best shoes.

The amazing thing about being a dad is to be able to look at your child and realize that the universe is so much bigger than you.

I'm someone that examines culture and tries to break down why things are the way that they are whether its hip-hop music, sex, race, or consumerism. I try to examine it and scrutinize it to the point where I can write a song.

I got sober, and I got happy again.