Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' new album, "This Unruly Mess I Made," drops on Feb. 26.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis took John R. Emens Auditorium by storm the evening of Feb. 3 — with songs ranging from the message of Macklemore's past to his crazy alter ego "Raven Bowie" — and the audience responded by filling the auditorium with sound of voices singing along and the sight of dancing and hands in the air.
Before the Grammy-winning duo took the stage, the rapper Xperience opened the show.
Ball State junior Christiana Wilkerson said she came to the concert to see Macklemore perform his song "Same Love" live.
“It’s a super powerful song,” Wilkerson said. “Seeing it live is unimaginable.”
See the gallery of the concert.
Macklemore performed his singles "Downtown," "Thrift Shop" and "Same Love," along with several other songs.
During the show, the rapper said that the group had only performed at one other college this tour and challenged the audience to get the most "turnt up." He later confirmed to the audience that Ball State won.
The rapper also talked about his prior drug addiction and how it inhibited his creativity and ability to make music, before performing the duo's song "Otherside," which deals with drugs and substance abuse.
Before playing the hit song "Can't Hold Us," Macklemore teased the audience.
"This is usually the point in the night when we finish; ... I'd be perfectly happy to leave and go relax on the bus. But at Ball State, though?" he said.
As the audience erupted in cheers and requests for another song, Josh “Budo” Karp, a Ball State alumnus who works with Macklemore, told the crowd, "Don't let me down, Ball State."
Kristi Chambers, assistant director of marketing and communications at Emens Auditorium, said the concert was almost sold out.
“We hope to have a lot of other student concerts in the future that will bring a variety like we usually do, pop, hip-hop, country,” Chambers said. “We want to appeal to all audiences and really bring these names that the students want to see.”
Ball State juniors Abbie Trosper and Karrie Shreve stood outside Emens Auditorium to spark a conversation around the message that Macklemore started in his song "White Privilege II."
They want to inform people who aren't aware of social injustices.
“Macklemore talks about social injustices and how he wants to kind of not eradicate it, but just bring some light to it and bring awareness to it,” said Trosper, a special education and elementary education major. “We’re looking to start an organization to bring awareness to social injustices and privilege.”
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