Rap sensation Macklemore has explained that while his chart success was very sudden, he has been working hard to make a name for himself in the music world since he was just a kid.

During a revealing interview with Billboard for the new issue's cover story, the 'Thrift Shop' hitmaker confessed that he was taking part in street rap battles when he was a youngster to try and gain respect from those already in the game: "This was pre-Internet as a way to get your music out. So I had to do shows, but I was too young. Freestyling on the street or in the park was where I honed the craft."

He went on to unveil his dark past, talking about how he often preferred drugs to school: "It was pre-gentrification of Seattle's Central District. And I wasn't going to class and I was doing a bunch of drugs and drinking. So my parents put me in a predominantly white school in the North End and then I did a program called Running Start, which was like a community college. I never got a chance to climb any kind of social ladder anywhere. I was more into making music-and doing hallucinogenic mushroom voyages."

Discussing his recovery, Macklemore (pictured below with Ryan Lewis) added that while he's clean now he still struggles with 'overindulging': "I tend to be an overindulger in general. Like I've just eaten two bags of chips and I had a shitload of candy from a gas station last night."

"I don't have moderation in my life. I really have to work on it. So with drugs and alcohol, I had no moderation. Smoking weed and drinking hindered my creative process. They were the veil over my eyes. It never really worked for me, in terms of being prolific."

Watch Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's video for 'Can't Hold Us' below: