As much progress as Mac was making, he was still a ways off from coming into his own. Mac produced most of his own tracks for this album, developing a slew of rich, cashmere-textured beats that captured the quirky, darker direction he was going in. Watching Movies with the Sound Off mirrored the tone of Macadelic, but with significant developments in production and content. “Sometimes I wonder who the f*ck I am,” he bluntly asks in the opening bars of “The Question.” Mac wiped the slate clean, focusing more on what he wanted to make than what his fans were looking to play at house parties. Mac stopped rapping about how much fun he was having and started to question his own identity. Gone were pregame anthems, in were airy, dreary beats and introspective lyrical content. You’re 19, you’re so excited to put out your first album, you put it out-and no one has any respect for you or for what you did.”Īt the risk of fading into irrelevancy, Mac had to make serious changes to his style and image to ever be taken as a serious artist. Keeping up his frantic pace, his Macadelic mixtape dropped in the spring of 2012, exposing the drug-induced haze he had put himself in after the failure of BSP. “A lot of the reviews were more on me as a person. It wasn’t just the music that didn’t vibe with hip-hop heads - it was Mac Miller, the person, that no one wanted to associate with, as he told Billboard: He took the industry’s rejection personally, turning to drugs to deal with his depression.
For the first time, Mac had failed - and it hit him hard. 1 as an independent release - BSP was poorly received by critics, earning a Metascore of 58. In spite of his impressive sales - it debuted No.
BEST SONG ON GOOD AM MAC MILLER FULL
Mac’s popularity screamed for a full studio album, which Mac delivered. His independent debut, Blue Slide Park, was essentially a polished, (slightly) higher-budget mash of his mixtapes, anchored down by stricter sampling restrictions and wiped clean of the carefree rawness of his mixtapes. He mirrored Wiz’s “Taylor Gang” crew with his “Most Dope” brand. Mac would even go on a nationwide college campus tour with Wiz, as if he wanted to flaunt and exploit every stereotype on one cross-country trip. From the same high school as Wiz Khalifa, Miller became known as a white knock-off of his Pittsburgh peer to outside observers. Mac was building a strong following with this indulgent style, but at a cost.
He captured the essence of the party, the hangover, and everything in between like no other backpack rapper could. This isn’t exactly high-brow music, but Mac had real musical talent – a keen ear for beats, a strong enough flow and a relatable presence on the mic. On tracks like “Nikes on my Feet” and “The Spins,” Mac had an uncanny ability to connect with his niche audience of college-age party-goers. He’s emerged with his own style. In his early mixtape days, Mac’s style was the equivalent of a rap starter pack for kids sugary instrumentals behind bars that rarely went beyond the “who you know that’s iller than Mac Miller” message. But that path was far from linear, navigating through some classic mixtapes, album flops, addiction, depression, and everything in between. In a five-year span, Mac Miller has been able to shake that image and craft his own lane. The days of battling the “post-high school troublemaker” image are just about over. The hook on Mac Miller’s latest single, “Brand Name,” perfectly sums up the Pittsburgh rapper’s toughest career obstacle: To the average hip-hop fan, Mac Miller wasn’t a skilled rapper/producer/artist - he was a burnt-out frat rapper trying to stay relevant with his Jackass wannabe show on MTV. Fast forward to the release of his third studio release, GO:OD AM.
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