10 Artists You Should Listen To If You Like Macklemore

And they're not all white rappers.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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A few months ago, the name Macklemore had a buzz—people knew a few things about the Seattle rapper, but when he was talked about, especially amongst females, it was usually something along the lines of: "Oh, that new white rapper? He's pretty good I think, but he's really fucking hot." And being really fucking hot doesn't make anyone an artist. (Well, kind of.) It did, however, with Macklemore whose song "Thrift Shop" soared to the top of the charts. But more than his looks, Macklemore was praised as a type of prophet to music, and especially rap music, much to the chagrin of many a rap fundamentalist.

Prophet or not, BuzzFeed did a post last November called 9 Reasons To Fall In Love With Macklemore & Ryan Lewis that praises him for a lot of the things that, well, have already been done. Whether or not you think he's good for rap music—or whether or not you like him—it's hard to dispute that Macklemore's inciting more than a few discussions about what it means to be a part of a genre. Maybe Skinny Friedman said it best in his Noisey piece (titled, modestly, "Why Don't I Like Macklemore?") when he wrote: "It feels like rap for people that don't actually like rap."

And maybe that's what infuriates people about Macklemore so much? Then again, with the type of success he's having, he must be doing something right. Either way: Complex Music has taken it upon ourselves to introduce his non-rap-listening fans to other music they, well, might want to get to know. No shots fired—and we've all seen the Tweet—but here are 10 Other Artists You Should Listen to If You Like Macklemore. Get to listening.

RELATED: 25 Things You Didn't Know About Macklemore

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If you like Macklemore as an artist then you should listen to: Atmosphere When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

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When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold certainly isn't Atmosphere's finest work-which is along the lines of God Loves Ugly and Seven's Travels-but it's the best representation of how Slug and Macklemore sound a lot alike. Maybe even too much alike. But rather than hate, let's discuss: Macklemore's angry, raspy, emotional rhymes aren't the same as Eminem's, maybe there's similarities but who he finds himself sounding like is Slug, who perfected and bolstered the image of an angry, aggressive, emotional, self-deprecating rapper with a raspy voice, too. Slug supports him, but are we the only ones who can imagine Macklemore singing "Yesterday" where Slug raps about missing his dad? Yes, yes we can.

If you think Macklemore is the first independent artist to make charting hits then you should listen to: Mac Miller "Donald Trump"

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Macklemore is an independent artist who once refused a contract from L.A. Reid, who was able to hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Mac Miller had a chart-topping debut album, Blue Slide Park which was the first independently-distributed debut album by anyone to hit No. 1 since 1995. Mac's still dropping music, his fan base is pretty damn dedicated, and he's still independent. If you're all about independent rappers, check out Mac's debut or his older single, "Donald Trump."

If you think Macklemore is the first rapper to talk about gay rights then you should listen to: Common "Between Me, You & Liberation"

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Yes, Macklemore came out with "Same Love" which voiced his stance, and support, of same-sex marriage. The track, which was inspired by his two gay uncles and godfather, has brought a lot of attention to the Seattle rapper, especially based on hip-hop's history of homophobia. But he's not technically the first rapper whose rhymes are accepting. In fact, Chicago rapper Common has a history of employing homophobic lyrics like, "In a circle of faggots, your name is mentioned..." on his track "Dooinit" from 2000. Two years later, he would change his view and attitude on "Between Me, You & Liberation" off and in future years, would regret his earlier lyrics after his fans reached out to him. On the third verse of "Between Me, You & Liberation" he rhymes about a man questioning his sexuality and the need to accept him.

If you think Macklemore is the first rapper to rap about secondhand clothes then you should listen to: Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci"

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This is not trolling. Although SPIN nailed it with their reference to Goodie Mob's "Goodie Bag," the idea of Macklemore getting props for rapping about second hand clothing seems strange. Lyrics like "They be like, 'Oh that Gucci, that's hella tight'/I'm like, 'Yo that's 50 dollars for a t-shirt/Limited-edition, let's do some simple addition/50 dollars for a t-shirt, that's just some ignorant-bitch shit/I call that getting-swindled-and-pimped shit" made us think: Gucci? Thrift stores? White rapper? No, we're not thinking of frat rap! We're thinking of Ms. Kreayshawn, whose viral hit "Gucci Gucci" talked about the same damn thing-that basic bitches wear labels and she, along with the White Girl Mob, didn't care if they were wearing secondhand or not.

If you think Macklemore is the first proud Irish rapper then you should listen to: House of Pain "Top O' The Morning To Ya"

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Fun fact: House of Pain was white and Irish, too. Rep your heritage, rappers. Yes, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "Irish Celebration" is a song—with vintage videos!—all about Macklemore's Irish heritage and immigration. "Put a pint up/Everybody sing the song" is one of the lyrics. But, the real Irish OG rappers are House of Pain, and besides their insanely popular hit "Jump Around" they, too, repped their heritage with tracks like "Irish Pride" and "Top O' The Morning To Ya."

If you think Macklemore is the first rapper to put on a theatrical live performance then you should go see: Tech N9ne

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If don't know much about Tech N9ne here's all you need to know: He's the most underrated rapper of all time. Tech is a versatile rapper and like Macklemore, he's an independent artist (and has been one for years) who puts on a hell of a live show. Don't take our word for it, just peep the various clips of him on YouTube putting on a high powered live set where he he rocks huge crowds without having a hundred goons on stage or forgetting his lyrics.

If you think Macklemore is the first rapper to rap with live music then you should listen to: The Roots Things Fall Apart

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People were very impressed that Macklemore—a rapper!—performed and rapped with live music. We were, too. Just kidding, we were surprised that rappers rhyming with live instruments surprised people. Hello? The Roots nailed that years ago, especially on Things Fall Apart.

On one of the greatest hip-hop love songs of all time, the soothing guitar and Questlove on the drums making "You Got Me" even more emotional than the lyrics. Plus, The Roots are Jimmy Fallon's house band-they're really about the live music.

If you like Macklemore's flow on "Thin Line" then you should listen to: Kid Cudi "Man on The Moon"

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There's an emotional side to Macklemore that we've seen, and everyone is entitled to their own feelings, of course. However, it's hard to deny that Macklemore sounds like—and rhymes like—the King of emotional rap these days, Mr. Rager himself. Kid Cudi's rhymes on "Man On The Moon" undeniably influenced Macklemore on this track, and if you're a fan of "Thin Line" then there's a whole heap of songs to check out from Cudi in the early days of his career.

If you think Macklemore is the first rapper to support the Boys and Girls Club then you should listen to: Diddy

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People talked about Macklemore giving all of the proceeds from his song "My Oh My" to the Boys and Girls Club which is pretty damn cool. But there are plenty of other generous rappers out there just waiting for someone to thank them. Like Diddy, for example. He saved the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem back in October 2011 with a $60,000 donation to prevent the nonprofit from cutting back on its tutoring. If all rappers donated proceeds from their albums, however, the world would be a better place-with a few less Bugattis on the road.

If you like artists who are the mainstream version of indie artists from 10 years ago then you should listen to: Owl City

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Not to sound like your parents on some, 'back in my day'-type shit, but as we mentioned earlier, Macklemore REALLY does sound like Slug. For heads who grew up listening to the rapper's group Atmosphere, it's a little distracting. Atmosphere were hardly unsuccessful; by the mid-2000s, they'd built up quite an audience, and were able to tour successfully across the country, becoming one of the biggest independent acts to emerge from the late-90s backpack rap scene.

But Macklemore dropped the number one record in the country and has topped the pop charts, and he stands, to some degree, on Slug's shoulders. It's reminiscent of another recent act who built upon a surprisingly similar style: Owl City, who traded in Postal Service's indie bonafides but stuck with the overall sound, yet became massively successful on a level Postal Service never really achieved.

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