Hip-hop feuds run aplenty, but Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have kept their hands clean in the year where their singles "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" have dominated the charts. Now that the duo is nominated for six MTV Video Music Awards, Macklemore is speaking out against the artist that's tied them for most nominations: Justin Timberlake. More specifically, he's announced his bitterness over a previously undisclosed hot dog-eating competition when the pair of performers were young.
"You know what? Justin and I have been competitive for years," the "Thrift Shop" rapper told MTV News. "It started out as a basketball rivalry, hot dog eating championship, where we both lost. But it's been a rivalry, it's been a competition and this doesn't stop."
Both performers are nominated for the night's big prize, Video of The Year. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are nominated for the "Thrift Shop" video and Timberlake for "Mirrors." The rapper said that Timberlake has barely beaten him for more than 20 years, and he thinks Sunday's ceremony at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn marks the end.
"This is just the continuation of a lifelong, childhood [rivalry]," he said. "I never made it onto the 'Disney Club' (we assume he's referring to the 'Mickey Mouse Club') as a kid and he did. I was actually runner up to Justin. This year I hope that I get a little bit of redemption, 22 years later."
Macklmore said that when he goes up to accept any of his awards, he'll thank Timberlake for "making me work harder through these years of pain."
Before this real interview causes any Timberlake or Macklemore fans to pull a One Directioner and start a flamewar, we encourage those fans to take in the humorous presentation of the "facts" via this MTV video segment:
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2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music
