The musical duo of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis has dropped the music video for their latest chartbuster, “Downtown.” The highly anticipated single’s video is as idiosyncratic as its artists, with a horde of 60’s and 70’s references, but what is most entertaining throughout is trying to identify all the two-wheelers they have used in it.
In case you haven’t heard the song itself on the radio yet, it is about mopeds. It opens with the blandest of descriptions ever about buying a moped:[blockquote type=”left”]I went to the moped store with shoppers
Salesman like “What up, what’s your budget?”
And I’m like “Honestly, I don’t know nothing about mopeds”
He said “I got the one for you, follow me”
Oh it’s too real[/blockquote]
The video then follows the Seattle rapper-producer duo in their quest to ride mopeds downtown. Along the way, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis recruit musical heavyweights Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel in their mad journey. As if that weren’t enough, they receive a soaring, Freddie Mercury-esque hook from vocalist Eric Nally.
There is also a motorcycle chariot reminiscent of Ben-Hur, made by clubbing some Royal Enfield Bullets together. The duo engage in some gorgeously-choreographed street gang fighting, then ride on the shoulders of other motorcyclists, and finally take over a parade to joyfully proclaim the merits of downtown.
Directed by Jason Koenig with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the whole affair is very “Uptown Funk”-evoking, but far more bizarre of a throwback, and with more bikes. It is the perfect love letter to everything we love about two-wheels.
“Downtown” will be the first single from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ follow-up to 2012’s The Heist, which was nominated for album of the year at the Grammys and produced the No. 1 hits “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us.” Earlier this month, the Seattle duo came back with “Growing Up (Sloane’s Song),” a non-single featuring Ed Sheeran that was dedicated to the young daughter of Macklemore.