Sunday, Jan. 26 proved to be a big night for rapper Macklemore and his best friend, DJ/producer Ryan Lewis. The duo took home four Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Rap Album. Following the wins, the “Thrift Shop” emcees visited The Ellen DeGeneres Show (airing Tuesday, Jan. 28), almost a year after they made their first live televised performance on the same stage.
The twosome remain on a high from those victories — and, of course, their historic rendition of marriage-equality anthem “Same Love” with Madonna and Mary Lambert. While the group was singing the duet, Queen Latifah officiated 33 marriages of both gay and straight couples standing in the aisles.
“I got emotional during rehearsal, and I got emotional during the performance,” Macklemore, 30, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, admitted to DeGeneres. “During the third verse, I started rapping and that’s when the procession of couples started to come in. It just gives me goosebumps to think about it. To watch the Staples Center kind of erupt and stand up and participate in that ceremony, it was magical.”
The moment was certainly an emotional one, with country crooner Keith Urban visibly wiping tears away and pop star Katy Perry joyously accepting one of the couple’s bouquets.
For Macklemore, the moment was made even more significant because his fiancée Tricia Davis was in the audience cheering him on.
“My fiancée was with me when we were printing up 20 shirts at a time to sell at a show with 15 people there,” the “Can’t Stop Us” rapper gushed. “She’s been with us every step of the way. She produces the music videos, she’s our tour manager, she’s been there from the beginning. To be there with your loved one, holding hands, watching to see if you’re going to win these awards. She broke down when we won Best New Artist, and I was like, ‘Alright, we’re definitely being watched by 30 million people right now.'”
The couple got engaged in January 2013 after seven years of dating. Macklemore posted a picture of the ring on his official Instagram account, captioning the image, “After 7 years… I asked. And she said yes. The love of my life.”
