Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Downtown
2015 · Directed by Ryan Lewis, Jason Koenig & Ben Haggerty
1.3M Likes
Best comments
1.“Uptown Funk and Thrift Shop had a baby... and you just watched it.”
More comments
- 2.“Jesus, Nally puts more passion into singing one 'downtown' than I've put into my entire life.”
- 3.“His knees gotta be killing him to this day.”
The story
The whole thing started with a misheard word. Ryan Lewis made a beat, Macklemore heard the word moped in it, and since both of them had bought mopeds for getting around on tour, that was the song. Then they called in some of the men who built rap in the first place. Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz all show up, along with Foxy Shazam singer Eric Nally.
Macklemore and Lewis directed it with Jason Koenig and spent a week in July 2015 shooting in Spokane, Lewis's hometown. Downtown Spokane was closed off for more than a week, and some locals were grumpy about it until they found out why. The video shows off the Fox Theater, the Paulson Building, the skywalks and East Sprague, with a swarm of local moped, scooter and motorcycle fans filling the streets. Seattle b-boy crew Massive Monkees did the choreography, and Ken Griffey Jr. pops in for a cameo.
The result is a goofy '70s throwback street party, with mopeds hauled around like chariots. The song went to number one in Australia and number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Time magazine called it the sixth-worst song of 2015. Both things can be true.
