The independent hip hop sensation that began to take over the airways in 2012 is back. Are you ready for another heist?

After touring the world off the success of their platinum selling album, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have announced the sophomore follow-up to 2012’s The Heist titled This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, set to be released on February 26.

According to an open letter posted on their website, the album comes after a long period of trials and tribulations.

As detailed in Complex magazine’s August 2015 cover story, Macklemore relapsed with months of smoking marijuana and taking sleeping pills. After learning in January 2015 that his wife, who also serves as the duo’s tour manager, was expecting a baby, he knew he needed a change.

“I’ve gotten back to what makes me happy,” he said in the cover story weeks after embarking on a road of recovery. “Not in the immediate moment, [but] what’s going to make me happy in the long run. None of the money, the fame, the attention, the touring, the endorsement, the Jordan shoe, the TV appearances—none of that, literally none of it, comes close to the fulfillment and gratitude that I feel showing up to a meeting and being sober today.”

This new outlook has spearheaded their new sound.

He mentions in the open letter: “There is creativity for validation. And there is creativity for survival. They are very different places […]. Making music not because we had to, but because we got to. I had forgotten how to do that.”

And that, quite honestly, is something musicians forget far too much now a days. But that. quite frankly, is a recipe that might not get Macklemore & Ryan Lewis the same type of success they had back in the “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” days.

During the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards  the duo performed “Downtown,” the lead single off their new album. The performance sparked some controversy. Some people applauded the Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee, and Grandmaster Caz collaboration. Others called it, “weird.”

When the 2015 American Music Awards came around, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed “Kevin,” a Leon Bridges collaboration chronicling a long battle with addiction.  The reaction was better but it still bears the question, will their new album be a sophomore slump or the comeback of the year?

Here’s to finding out on February 26.

The post ICYMI: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Announce New Album appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.