Macklemore finally owned up to his post-Grammys faux pas in a lengthy interview with Hot 97 on Tuesday. In between lengthy discussions about race and hip-hop, he let slip that posting a text message he sent to Kendrick Lamar this February was a mistake.
"I betrayed Kendrick's trust," Macklemore said (via XXL). "That's my homie...I betrayed his trust, that's wack."
Let's go back to the beginning here; 2013 was a huge year for Mack (The Heist) and Kendrick (good kid m.A.A.d city), who both burst into the mainstream on the strength of excellent records.
While Macklemore and Ryan Lewis produced an LP of mostly radio-friendly tunes that received mixed reviews, Kendrick's jam was a classic through-and-through, notching chart and radio success while prompting rap heads to declare good kid an all-time triumph.
So it's understandable that much of the hip-hop community was upset when The Heist won Best Hip-Hop Album at the Grammys.
Apparently, Macklemore felt the same way.
"You got robbed," he wrote in a text message to Lamar. "I wanted you to win. You should have. It's weird and sucks that I robbed you. I was gonna say that during the speech then the music started playing during my speech and I froze. Anyway, you know what it is. Congrats on this year and your music. Appreciate you as an artist and as a friend. Much love."
All of that is fine, but Macklemore proceeded to post the text message to his Instagram profile, which made the whole thing look like a classless sham.
Soon after, Lamar sounded off on the issue.
"Yeah I think it was uncalled for, to be 100 with you," he told Ebro In the Morning. "When he sent it to me, I could see him feeling that type of way because he's a good dude. But I think for confirmation from the world, he probably felt like he had to put it out there, which he didn't need to do. But that don't take nothing from him anyway, because I know where his heart is at. He cool."
After that, the topic faded into the annals of rap history. Until Macklemore apologized on Tuesday, that is.
Check out his version of "sorry" and the rest of the Hot 97 interview below:
