My first exposure to Macklemore came in the form of his song and video for “Irish Celebration,” a bawdy, brawling ode to the rapper’s Irish heritage. Sampling Beirut’s “Scenic World,” the song’s brassy instrumentals inspired YouTube comments such as, “Siq beat—makes me proud to be Irish!” Fun fact: Beirut’s music is largely influenced by Balkan music, not Celtic drinking songs. What ignorance! This, combined with Macklemore’s less-than-inspired lyrics like, “Put a pint up everybody sing a song,” was strike one for me. I wasn’t a fan.
