(AllHipHop News) After landing one of the much-talked-about spots on XXL’s “Freshman Class 2012” cover this past February, Seattle native Macklemore has been experiencing new successes in ways he once would have found hard to imagine.
With a number of festival appearances and a sold-out tour already in his rearview, the attention of both Macklemore and his producing partner, Ryan Lewis, are now entirely focused on the duo’s currently untitled new album which is set for a fall release.
“It will drop probably in October,” Mackelmore told AllHipHop.com at the Soundset Festival in Minneapolis last month. “Independently released at this point unless something crazy comes along so who knows, but at this point we’re going to put it out ourselves and that’s what makes the most sense to us. We’ll do a distribution deal with somebody but we’re going to do it ourselves and we’ve been approached by everybody, literally every f*cking major label,” he said.
When we pressed the MC for what was stopping him from inking a deal with a major label, Macklemore very bluntly told AllHipHop.com, “It’s just not right, man. I don’t want to feel that pressure. I want to make what we want to make without feeling like I have to create a certain song for the radio. And, you know, if it gets to that point someday, and I feel like I want to make that crossover, then I think we will. But I’m more than happy selling out shows across the world at the rate that we’re going, and the way that it’s progressing and building.”
He continued, “The fan base that we have and how loyal they are is all that we need, and the labels want to jump on it now ‘cause it’s popping and I understand the game but at the same time, as of right now I want us to continue to do it ourselves.”
As for how far Mack is into he and Lewis’ recording process, he responded, “The album is almost done, we’ve got about two or three more weeks of recording. I got a lot to record in the next few weeks and then we’ll go into mixing and mastering in July and then do some videos and kind of start the cycle in late August, early September and the album will drop in October.”
Known for their lack of collaborations, they were asked if there were plans for any of Macklemore’s fellow XXL freshman to appear on the duo’s album. “No we don’t,” he answered. “I haven’t really talked to anybody about it. I’d like to do something with Danny [Brown], I think that would be dope, but at the moment, there is nobody on that cover on there. We only have one rap feature as it is so far that I can’t reveal yet, and we’ve got a bunch of singers and sh*t, but I’ve got to keep all that under wraps for now.”
In the meantime, fans expecting something in the form of a mixtape or EP to hold them over until the duo’s album release in October may be disappointed. “I think that we’ll do it how we’ve been doing it. We don’t put out a ton of content but the content that we do put out, we’re really proud of and we’re try to keep that standard up,” said Macklemore.
“I could go and bang out 10 tracks and out out an EP or mixtape or whatever but to me, I’d rather give the fans 14 or 15 songs of the highest caliber that we can do and have some great visuals to back it. Of course, then go out on the road and murder a tour. That’s what we’re going to do,” he added.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ upcoming album will be released this October.
Check back later this week for more from Macklemore regarding his life post-XXL cover, the dynamic and working relationship between himself and Lewis, and his stance on a number of human and civil rights.
