As the days comes closer to the release date of This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, the rapper-producer duo have released a video for the Kevin – which was first performed at the 2015 American Music awards and dedicated to Macklemore’s friend Kevin who overdosed on prescription drugs in 2010 – featuring gospel and soul singer Leon Bridges.

Watch here: Kevin (Music Video)

The track calls out the problems of the prescription drug abuse epidemic in America and how the government and public health service are not stopping the illegal abuse of pharmaceuticals. Macklemore also discusses the issues of doctors overprescribing medicine and the influence of Kevin’s mother as he slowly became dependant on them – it is very difficult to get off drugs such as antidepressants due to the multiple withdrawal symptoms.

First dealer was his mom’s medicine cabinet

Got anxiety, better go and give him a Xanax

Focus, give him Adderall, sleep, give him Ambien

‘Til he’s walking ’round the city looking like a mannequin

Ups and downs, shooting up prescriptions you’re handing him

So America, is it really worth it? I’m asking you

This track really shows that Macklemore is trying to go back to the 2005 sound he had as an underground rapper – before the success of Thrift Shop and Same Love, with the old school beat in the beginning which transitions into including a background choir and piano instrumentation. In the first verse, he goes into detail surrounding the circumstances of Kevin’s death “Wings clipped by the grip of 80 milligram sniffs of oxycontin….. / ….. I said peace at 5:30, the next time that I saw him was in the hands of the pallbearer”, which really paints the picture of the tragic situation – along with Leon’s echoing voice throughout the hook.

With tracks like Kevin and White Privilege II on the album, one can only hope Macklemore delivers similar subject matter throughout the project because this is the type of Mac that I loved to listen to from The Language of My World days.