This album was a long time coming. Hip Hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis recorded this album over a period of three years in Seattle, USA, before it was finally released on October 9, 2012. Singles from the album preceded it, but this was the real deal for the duo. The album showed a new direction for music, being self-produced, self-recorded and self-released, for the most part. This was paving the future ahead for the so-called celebrity with a laptop-styled music release mentality. In particular, the song Thrift Shop went to #1 in several countries and the album was both a financial and commercial success for the duo, even if critics didn’t necessarily love everything on the album, although it had mostly positive reviews. Warner Music Group helped promote the album after it was released. The result was millions of sales and a 2014 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Let’s take a listen to this album, and we shall hear where it takes us.

Ten Thousand Hours begins with some distorted harpsichord-styled melodies and has some neat rapping over it. This sounds really weird, but quickly launches into some heavy beats and bass to match the Hip Hop/Rap Music. This may refer to the theory of mastering either as a singer or as a musician, in that it takes 10,000 hours to master one’s craft. This is good for some postmodern Rap Music, it has a spirit and passion that is lacking in other releases today. The only thing is that this particular tune doesn’t sound that great. Even so, there are worse songs and releases out there than this. One can hear the rapping and feel like being motivated to do something useful with their life upon hearing this track. In any case, a very good listen for what it is. Towards the end are some looped and distorted vocals, with alternating vocal parts from the two main men. A good start to this album. A promising beginning. “Welcome to The Heist”, indeed.

Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton) begins with some interesting percussion sounds, and launches into a piano-led piece of music that has some hyperspeed rapping in it. This is a better tune than expected, although this has been largely forgotten today. This is about making it in the world of today and giving it all that you have got. Once the chorus hits, you are in 2012 Pop Music central. The chorus is instantly recognisable and fantastic to listen to. A really great tune, this has some excellent rapping and lyrics throughout, matched with some good production to go with it. A really cool tune, this has power and energy throughout. A euphoric and moving tune to listen to, this sounds really fantastic and excellent from start to finish. The brass section in this tune is really quite good as well. The chorus returns at the end of the song. Worth hearing from start to finish.

Thrift Shop (feat. Wanz) is the key song from this album. It begins with a kid asking, “Hey Macklemore, can we go thrift shopping?” and launches into a catchy and very memorable Pop Rap tune. This will take your mind back to 2012, with a great funky brass part and launches into a memorable and Poptastic tune. This is a tune about dressing in the cheapest but fanciest clothes at the club, with a not-so-subtle stab at rapper R. Kelly. All in all, this is a great listening experience that sounds really amazing to this very day. The beats and sounds throughout, and in particular, the chorus are fantastic. A really punchy and interesting tune, referencing being dressed as someone’s grandparents throughout, this is a really cool tune that is absolutely worth listening to. Towards the end, this builds up nicely to a great chorus and climax of the song. Surely, this is a bit of an ironic song? Really cool to hear. Great.

Thin Line (feat. Buffalo Madonna) begins with some altered dial tone-styled keyboard sounds, and launches into another very good song to listen to, with sweet keyboards galore. This eventually launches into a good Rap tune that sounds really cool and quirky. A great and interesting listening experience that really is awesome to hear, this is more about beats and textures than about the tune itself, this particular track. Still, it sounds very, very good. The editing on this tune sounds really amazing. Rapping about a tricky relationship, Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Buffalo Madonna make for some excellent songcraft on this tune. Even for a lesser track, there have been worse examples of music out there than this tune. It goes back to the introduction sounds before some more cool rapping enters to conclude this tune. An excellent listen about a relationship gone wrong. Nice tune, even if it sounds a little awkward at times.

Same Love (feat. Mary Lambert) begins with some sustained electronic sounds and has some piano enter the tune. It sounds very warped for what it is. It quickly launches into a ballad that sounds very deep. Some rapping emerges about one’s past and growing up, with references to both politics and religion throughout. A good song, our guest sings a beautiful and sweet song throughout. This is most definitely a Pop Music record, but it has its moments of originality such as this throughout it. All in all, a sweet and melodic ballad that sounds extremely good and has a bit of a passionate emotional message throughout. Some brass is thrown into the mixture, which is pretty cool. A sweet tune that although isn’t that strong lyrically, the music is more than enough to make up for it. A really awesome tune to listen to, this is about understanding that the primary belief in God is the same, as long as you recognise it in the best way possible no matter what you think of religion. A really cool tune, even if you are not religious. It ends with some subtly mixed singing that is multitracked with some interesting sounds to match. Great.

Make The Money begins with some piano and distorted sounds of vocals, which sound different and moody. Rapping emerges in this tune about making it and making money in the process. Typical Rap Music sort of stuff. Even so, this is a good call-to-arms about the idea of making money at something you love, rather than loving to make money at something you hate. In any case, this is a very good tune to listen to. Surprisingly, for the most part, this album has lasted well to this very day. The piano is a nice touch throughout, and the music here is interesting and varied for a Rap Music album. In the second half is a musical interlude, followed by some rapping and lyrics about living one’s life to the full. A good tune to hear, even if you aren’t a Rap Music fan. “Stay true!”, indeed.

Neon Cathedral (feat. Allen Stone) begins with some straightforward beats and some count-ins, before launching into a sweet tune with some very Dr. Dre-styled guitar samples, likely a good sample obtained from a source. This is a strange tune lyrically, but it is about living life to the full out on the road. This is a stripped-down tune with some awesome vocals by Allen Stone that sounds magical and amazing. The overt references to Christianity throughout this album may be a turn-off to many listeners out there, but this music still holds up nicely today. A good listen, this doesn’t make sense to make a combination of Christianity and Rap throughout. Despite this awkward fusion and musical concept, the music still holds strong today. A weird listening experience, this isn’t the best of the album. Still, its beauty and majesty musically is a very nice listen throughout, even if this is a loosely Christian-based tune. It wraps up after four and a half minutes, it’s okay.

BomBom (feat. The Teaching) begins with frenetic piano playing, which sounds sweet and lively. This launches into a melodic piano piece with some 4/4 beats to match. It is certainly an interesting listening experience from the go. A thoroughly good listen, some African-styled beats are thrown into the mix as well. This has some drums entering the tune shortly afterwards. This instrumentation is a decent effort, and it holds up in this album very nicely. Extra drumbeats enter as this piece progresses along nicely. Sleigh bells and other rather random sounds are added into the mix later on. A sensationally good listen for what this is. A brief pause occurs, followed by some weird sounds, followed by an upbeat brass section. These guys obviously love having horns in their music. In any case, this instrumentation is definitely an interesting listen. It sounds like something that Miles Davis could have made if he were alive today. A very cool listen. Towards the end, this piece winds down and finishes with beats and piano to match. A decent listen that is just under five minutes in length.

White Walls (feat. ScHoolboy Q & Hollis) begins with some rapping and brass-styled sounds, with one of our guests rapping about cars. How superficial. In any case, this eventually gets going nicely into an okay tune, but nothing overly special on this tune. Some digitally modified vocals by our other guests are in the chorus before this tune returns into some rapid-fire rapping in the verses. This is a weird tune, to say the least. All in all, this piece of music is worth blasting in the car on a Spotify playlist to freak out others as you drive above the speed limit. In any case, this is an okay tune but nothing absolutely spectacular here. A good and interesting listen, but lacks substance and is more style instead. This music is good but not that flash on this song. It hasn’t aged all that well, to be fair.

Jimmy Iovine (feat. Ab-Soul) begins with some rather trippy and ghostly sounds, before an alarm-styled sound enters, following with our guest rapping along nicely. This launches into a heavy Rap tune that sounds articulate and powerful throughout. A very good tune to listen to, this sounds energetic, powerful and amazing throughout. A really cool and interesting listen, this sounds magically powerful and has plenty of rapid-fire street rhymes throughout. There is a sort of chorus in this tune, but even so, this is a slightly weaker tune but it is still very listenable if you like Rap Music. An awesome and energetic tune to listen to, in its own way. A really great listen in its own way. A good but not great tune about making it in the music industry, but also is a middle finger to the record executives who can be greedy pigs. Not bad.

Wing$ begins with piano and launches into a moody and melodic ballad that sounds rather ridiculous throughout. This album has some mixed-quality material on it, and this is another mere example of a poorer-quality tune. Rap Music these days isn’t overly impressive and this is very much a sell-out in terms of musical output, and this is a clear example of that, although this was recorded in 2012. This tune is pretty terrible, and it is merely about a pair of shoes. Why? This does not make any sense whatsoever to hear it. A very weird tune, although the instrumentation is sad and moody throughout. Not really a musical point here, this is ill-thought-out. Also, this goes on for way too long and is a depressing listening experience. Some children singing is present at the end of this tune, which also doesn’t make sense. A drag. Skip this one if you can. Materialist junk. A bad song.

A Wake (feat. Evan Roman) gets worse from the previous tune. It launches into an awful-sounding piece of music with some lacklustre sounds and predictable beats throughout. The rapping on this tune isn’t very inspiring and the musical themes aren’t great, either. This is merely filler at this point, and the music is very ordinary. Some rappers are obviously very intelligent people, but even though these guys come across as that, this music is very lacking throughout. This tune isn’t really that good, and the album lacks quality towards the end of it. Skip ahead if you wish, you’re not missing out on much here. A lacking song. It ends with the chorus being repeated and synthesised vocals emerging. Not great. It concludes with some samples of marching snare drum beats and a fade-out.

Gold (feat. Eighty4 Fly) begins with some warped and backward Psychedelic loops, launching into another average Rap tune. This is an improvement on the tunes before it, but this is still your standard run-of-the-mill Rap album that is so commonly found today. This music is good but not great. A fairly trashy Rap tune with some of the most predictable and samey lyrics about bragging about one’s wealth throughout, this is not really memorable music throughout. Referencing the YOLO statement and other contemporary things of 2012, Rap Music often is unoriginal and lacking in musicianship and musicality at its very worst. The pretentiousness of this tune reeks through the material clearly. In any case, this music is not realistic but it is okay for what it is. It wraps up towards the end with repeated sounds and textures to conclude, followed by the Psychedelic loop from the intro and the sound of rushing waves.

Starting Over (feat. Ben Bridwell) begins with some chiming and awful guitar chords, launching into a pathetic tune about changing circumstances in one’s life. A really ordinary and pathetic tune about failing in life. Really, why? This is merely filler music at this point, and it is thoroughly unimpressive on a musical level. It just sounds like contemporary sell-out junk in a musical sense. Very unimpressive in a musical sense, this is not enjoyable music per se. It is a poor excuse for music, and it sounds rather painful to listen to. We all have our pain, difficulties and despair in life, but making music about such things is not the purpose of good music. Better things have been done before and since in the name of Rap Music. Some horns conclude this tune, which actually sounds quite good, followed by singing and percussion.

Cowboy Boots begins with some moody banjo playing and has a weird attempt at creating a hybrid of Rap and Country Music. This is honestly laughable throughout. Why, once again? Why should one ever enjoy this filler trash? The album is a lesser listening experience for this sort of hybrid junk, and the two main men in charge ought to have known better before making this tune. In any case, this song is a forgettable and weird addition to a popular Rap album of the time. The chanting in the chorus is cheesy as well, and this tune is a stinker. One of the most contradictory songs ever made in the history of music, this is a terrible joke. Just like Beyonce, this song is a disaster, just like her Cowboy Carter album. This easily could have been scrapped. Some horn sections emerge towards the end of the tune, which sounds welcome and sweet. Not worth hearing, avoid it like the Noid. The outro is quite long as well.

Castle sounds pretty average from the start, sounding like a bad 1980s Synth Pop tune. It quickly launches into a straightforward tune that has lacking of promise, yet again. This song has some rather drug-infused lyrics and profanities throughout, which sound really weird to hear. The music is a bit different from the rest of the album, but it does sound really excellent. A bit better than the previous tune, but obviously a bit of a joke track. Talking about a huge booty on a chick and other weird ongoings, this is a good listen throughout. This is still a weird tune that is very different throughout. A mix-up of sounds and music quality, the autotuned vocals throughout are fairly ordinary, however. It sounds different to listen to. Very weird music.

My Oh My begins with sleigh bells, beats and a piano part to match. This gradually gets into action throughout and has some straightforward lyrics about one’s past. To be fair, this reeks of a selfish Rap Music based attitude that isn’t impressive. A sample of a crowdraiser is in this song, and the music matches it well. These two guys, at their best, do very well. This is one of the better tunes off of this album, and it makes better sense to sit through this particular song. The music and production present sounds really fantastic, and this album excels well at that. This is one of the better cuts from the album and has some interesting horns in it throughout. Some theremin and other interesting sounds are present in the second half of this tune, and the music sounds very spot on here. A good listen, although this music is for a particular audience throughout. A better song from this album. It ends with some muted horns to conclude with.

Victory Lap is the final tune on this album and ends The Heist. The duo makes a great creation here, and this sums up the adventure before it in a musical sense. These guys have made a symphonic yet straightforward Rap album and this is a good conclusion to the music before it. This is a decent closer, with some references to being high and being in the musical game. Nonetheless, a powerful listen throughout. The brass, beats and piano sound electrifying throughout, and sound extremely cool. A genuinely good listen, this album delivers where it does, and this song is no exception as well. The female soul singer towards the end is very good, just before the final verses kick in to conclude this tune. A good listen from start to finish.

This is a mostly decent album release, which although it definitely varies in quality, is primarily an album release that is good overall enough to be listened to. Some of the tracks on this album are absolute stinkers, however, although there are some absolute gems present on this release as well. Still, both Macklemore and Ryan Lewis as a duo were album to make a breakthrough record for most of the right reasons. Should you listen to this deluxe edition album release? If you like some postmodern contemporary Rap Music, go for it. If Rap is not your thing, then this is a difficult sell.

Decent but some tracks are garbage.

7/10