Seattle Hip-Hop Scene: Michael “The Wanz” Wansley Essay

The Seattle hip-hop scene is extremely diverse with many interesting and unusual artists. However, Wanz has fascinated me with his unusual biography. The artist never achieved great success but did some amazing work for other musicians.

Wanz’s real name is Michael Wansley. He was born in 1961 and has been a part of the hip-hop and pop scene of Seattle for the most of his life. He has been performing since the early 1980s (Gale, par. 4). His interest in music was increased after he studied jazz at the Central Washington University and taught himself to play bass. His career included playing bass and singing in various bands like Boys Will be Boys and Lifering. He used to be an established hook singer for D. Sane and worked with the artist for about ten years. Wanz never really became famous. After failing to get recognized, he became a software testing engineer and accepted that music is nothing more than a hobby for him (Unterberger, par. 3).

He still occasionally sang for Street Level Records and even took part in the opera Porgy and Bess. However, his musical life changed after he was offered to sing a hook for the 2012 song “Thrift Shop” by Ryan Lewis and Macklemore. Nobody expected the song to become an international hit. Once it climbed the charts and the video went viral, Wanz once again hoped to create a career for himself through the unexpected popularity. He did tours with Macklemore and was making some money and fans. He said that time “seemed surreal” (Soper, par. 5). That allowed him to quit his software testing job and become a full-time musician. However, that did not last long. He was hired to sing hooks for several songs after that point, but his solo EP never came out. As the original video stopped being as popular everybody seemed to forget about the old singer. He did manage to publish “The Book of Wanz.” The collection of aphorisms was published last year. It covers his experience as a fifteen-minute star from 2012 to 2015. He had to return to his job as a software tester and once again give up on being an established hip-hop artist.

When it comes to music, Wanz is well-known for his hook in “Thrift Shop.” With his deep, powerful and melodic voice, it is no surprise that the hook was widely known as the catchiest part of the song. It is surprising to me that the old artist failed to become popular by himself. His voice is truly powerful and in my opinion could be used to create some great hip-hop. However, the story of Wanz shows that great vocal ability is not everything in hip-hop. While it can be useful, most hip-hop artists, especially underground ones have achieved their popularity through hard work and a bit of luck. Wanz seems to just have failed to create anything compelling on his own. And holding the audience is hard. After years of being a backup artist, Wanz failed to stand on his own.

I think the story of Michael Wansley is really fascinating. He was making music for a very long time. Then, he finally got recognized in 2012. And after that, he lost all popularity again and returned to his job as a software engineer. On the one hand, this story shows that you should never give up on your dreams. On the other hand, it also shows that remaining popular can be really hard. Since Wanz no longer performs as a hip-hop artist, there are no upcoming shows for him. He did present his book at the University Bookstore in March of this year.

Works Cited

Gale, Alex. “Meet Wanz, the 51-Year-Old Former Software Engineer Who’s Topping the Charts With Macklemore”. XXL 2013. Web.

Soper, Taylor. “‘Thrift Shop’ star Wanz returns to software testing job after ‘surreal’ year on tour with Macklemore”. GeekWire 2015. Web.

Unterberger, Andrew. “The Story of Wanz, The 51-Year-Old Breakout Singer on Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”. PopDust 2013. Web.