Macklemore Talks Musical Influences, Growing Up on Rap, and the Power of Twitter

Macklemore is taking over.

On the day of his albumThe Heist's release, the Seattle-bred spitter celebrated being a trending topic in the U.S. as well as the No. 1 spot on the iTunes sales charts. The "Thrift Shop" rapper recently stopped by VIBE HQs to talk about the rap rockstars who influenced his career, writing bars in class as a teen and balancing promotion with personality on Twitter.

"I started rapping when I was 14," Macklemore recalls. "l started out real lunchroom and writing raps in language arts class. The first thng I ever recorded, I went to a thrift shop and got a big ass karaoke tape deck and that was my summertime passion."

Stay tuned for Part 2 and cop The Heist on iTunes here.