Meaning Behind the Celebratory Song “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

It’s rare that a song garners one-billion streams on YouTube. It’s rare for a song to be certified diamond. But Macklemore & Ryan Lewis boast two of these types of singles.

You can read about “Thrift Shop,” HERE. And the second, “Can’t Hold Us,” is below.

The Beat

Often, the first thing people mention when it comes to the M&RL hit song “Can’t Hold Us,” is the song’s beat. Lewis has talked in the past about record executives thinking the beat was too busy. That the human ear couldn’t follow all the hand claps, percussion, piano lines, vocal lines and rapping.

The song is rambunctious in the best of ways. That sharp, percussion piano line is heart-racing. “Can’t Hold Us,” which was released in 2011, portended Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ 2012 album, The Heist, which went on to earn multiple Grammy Awards.

It was the beat that, surprisingly to many, hooked its listeners. That and the song’s energy, its “us against the world” mentality, which permeated The Heist, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ work.

“It is an amazing accomplishment,” Macklemore told Billboard. The crazy thing is we played those records for record labels, and dudes were like, ‘Yeah, it’s cool. I don’t hear it on the radio, though.’ And here we are with two diamond singles.”

Ray Dalton

Despite myriad popular songs to his credit, rapper Macklemore sometimes gets criticized for the fact that his songs are often best when the hook is being sung by whatever guest artist.

For example, in “Can’t Hold Us,” Seattle singer Ray Dalton takes the track to the next level, with his sweet, soaring, slightly textured tone.

In the song’s live performance on Seattle radio station, KEXP, it’s clear to see all the pieces coming together, from Macklemore’s speedy raps, Lewis’ production, Dalton’s singing and even Andrew Joslyn on the violin and trumpeter Owuor Arunga.

The Lyrics

While Macklemore sometimes gets dinged for his overly heartfelt rhymes, it’s on this song that they come together beautifully. One of the many reasons The Heist did so well, commercially and crucially, was because the rapper focused on himself as an artist and as a representative of the creative city of Seattle. The famously independent rapper offers,

Labels out here, no they can’t tell me nothing
We give that to the people, spread it across the country.

Success

The song was a commercial, radio and music video success. In fact, the person who directed the Grammy-nominated video, Jason Koenig, also did the Ed Sheeran video for “Shape of You,” which boasts nearly 6 billion YouTube views.

Today, sports fans can hear the beat of the song played during basketball games and other events.

Goes to show, don’t believe the critics.

(Photo by Naomi Rahim/WireImage)