Macklemore has previously gone into his past in graffiti, but he dedicates the entirety of “Buckshot” to his teenage hobby. Appropriately, he collaborates with KRS-One, who was a graff writer before he was an MC.

The song also features renowned hip-hop producer DJ Premier, who provides the scratches. The syncopated bass line/piano lick in “Buckshot” is very similar to the prominent line in the beat of Nas’s “N.Y. State of Mind”, which DJ Premier produced in 1994.

Both graffiti and DJing/scratching are pivotal parts of hip-hop culture. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis noticeably seek the roots of hip-hop and continue to honor the legends, as they do in the album’s second track “Downtown”.