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Wanz (Michael Wansley) was a full-time software test engineer (Microsoft, Adapx, Volt) and a longtime Seattle musician who’d performed since the 1980s without breaking through. He was introduced to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis through a mutual contact specifically looking for a “Nate Dogg sound-alike” — neither party had heard of the other before the session. No lyrics reproduced.

It became the first independently distributed single to top the Billboard Hot 100 since 1995 — certified Diamond by the RIAA (10 million units) and winner of two Grammys (Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song) at the 2014 ceremony.

The song’s massive success — in a year where no Black artist reached #1 as lead artist on the Hot 100 — drew real criticism regarding race and hip-hop culture. This came to a head at the 2014 Grammys, where Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won multiple awards over Kendrick Lamar, a controversy Macklemore further inflamed by publicly posting a screenshot of an apologetic text he’d sent Lamar.

As already established on that page, independent audio analysis confirmed no direct sample connection existed between this song and Le1f’s “Wut” — the similarity was stylistic only, while Le1f’s broader cultural critique remains a separate, valid perspective distinct from the resolved sampling question.