On his latest album, Knock Madness, Hopsin kept the features to a minimum, rapping alongside labelmate Dizzy Wright and TechN9ne, with very few additional appearances, but there was one MC he would’ve liked to work with under the right circumstances: Macklemore.


Hopsin explained that he’s a huge fan of the Seattle rapper because he’s so low on pretenses, but the timing just wasn’t on his side. “I wanted to work with Macklemore but by the time I had something ready it was too late,” Hopsin told MTV News. “The day I [wanted to reach out to him], he was on an MTV award show, walking up to accept the award as I’m sitting there texting him. It was horrible timing, he’s way too busy.”



The L.A. rapper, who has always been very vocal in his criticism of popular artists like Lil Wayne and Kanye West, had nothing but praise for Macklemore and his partner Ryan Lewis.


“He’s dope. He’s inspired a lot of my music just because he’s free say to whatever he wants,” Hopsin explained. “He’s just himself and I notice a lot of white rappers sometimes feel like they have to be almost aggressive, but he’s just like ‘this is who I am.’ He’s not trying to be hard. He’s just a normal guy. He embraces the fact that he’s a f—ing white guy. He’s a f—ing white guy and he has no problem with it, and that’s why he’s so cool. He’s not trying to be anything but him.”


“And his music, the production that Ryan Lewis does, is really amazing to me,” he added. “The songs are like audio movies.” Maybe Macklemore will appear on Hopsin’s next album if things work out right in the future.


He describes his current project, Knock Madness, as darker than usual — everything from the lyrics to the beats, which he crafted himself. On tracks like “Tears To Snow” he hit some very personal issues, including a rough breakups and struggles with frenemies in the industry.



“[My girlfriend] had been there with me through a lot of the fame that I got, so in the back of my head I always feared that if me and her broke up, it would be hard for me to move forward and find a new partner,” he admitted.


“On the second verse of ‘Tears to Snow,’ I talk about rappers and the way they view me now. Rappers in the underground world who I might’ve know for a little bit, or they might’ve opened a show for me. A lot of them talk crap about me behind my back and they’ll smile in my face. They don’t know what it’s like to be touring around the world, to make real money.”