Call to Submit: 2026 Booooooom Illustration Awards
FilmMusic Video

Bad Song / Good Video of the Day: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Downtown”

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Yes, I’m posting a Macklemore song, and yes this song is pretty terrible. Macklemore and Co obviously wanted to cash in on the success of Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk” brazenly calling this song “Downtown” and stuffing Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, Grandmaster Caz and Eric Nally (who looks and sounds like Freddie Mercury) into a hackneyed Westside Story.

Having said all that, this video directed by Ryan Lewis, Jason Koenig, and Ben Haggerty is worth watching for the art direction. For whatever reason they didn’t give full credits in the video for a lot of people who I think made it worth watching, most notably: Art director John Lavin, cinematographer Christopher Probst, and stylists Therese Lefebvre and Paul White.

Watch Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Downtown” below (and maybe mute it).


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