Macklemore Says His 2014 Grammy Apology To Kendrick Lamar Wasn't About 'White Guilt'

It seems that Macklemore decided that 2021 was the year he was going to get his name back in the press.

The Seattle rapper started the year by dropping a freestyle about the Jan. 6 insurrection. He then sat down for an interview on People's Party with Talib Kweli and talked about going to rehab back in the day.

In that same conversation, Macklemore talked about beating Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys in 2014. The "Thrift Shop" rapper won three awards that night as well as the Grammy for best new artist. Kendrick, who had seven nominations that year, didn't win anything.  

Macklemore tweeted a message to K Dot when the ceremony concluded that said, "You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have. It's weird and it sucks that I robbed you."

Macklemore talked about that tweet with Kweli.

“I’m struggling with like, ‘Damn, I’m benefiting from the system I’ve been calling out since I was 20 years old,'" he explained. "Here I am at the ‘highest level’ of artistic merit – The Grammys – and here I am benefiting from the same sh*t I’ve been talking about. So I was conflicted. People want to say it was guilt. It was, ‘He feels guilty about being white.’ That’s so surface level. Was there an air of that? Absolutely. Was that the reason? Absolutely not at the forefront."

What do you think about Macklemore's explanation?