This Post Will be accompanied by a playlist later this week on the website and on my apple music. Stay Tuned
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So its been a year since the passing of Mac Miller. And I thought it was a good time to write this.
My relationship with Mr Miller started out kind of funny. In my formative years I actually claimed to listen to him heavy without having heard much from him. Like I knew his albums and had a few tracks from those albums, but if I am being honest, I was fronting. In my defence, my music brain hadn’t really matured much. And I hadn’t fully been integrated into the album life. I could still just listen to a few singles and call myself a fan.
So now its 2014. My friend sends a song called New faces by Mac Miller (shout out Bhubhu). And that’s really when my…. Obsession with him started. I remember screaming “and I’m gonna go out the same way I came in, Right by the pussy with nothing else on my mind”. You can imagine my mom’s reaction in the house.
So, anyone who knows anything about me will tell you, when I get obsessed, I get obsessed. And I think I caught him in his best pocket. I went back to Macadelic (which I already had on my laptop, claiming I was a fan) and “Watching Movies with the Sound Off”. “Faces” to this day, is probably my favourite mixtape by him. I can listen to “Diablo” all day everyday if I’m honest.
In my matric year “GO:OD AM” came out. This was probably my year of real music discovery, so you can imagine how crazy my love for it was. We used to quote the skits with the Mexican guy all the time. It was immaculate. In my first year “Rush Hour “ became the squad song. Before every party or club, we would use it to hype ourselves up. It would turn us into the worst versions of ourselves really.
The time divine feminine came out couldn’t have been more perfect. I had a girlfriend at the time, was at varsity with all the freedom one could imagine. That album became the soundtrack to many heated moments between the two of us that year. It might not have ended great, but that woman will probably always remind me of Divine Feminine.
Swimming took me a while to fully appreciate. I think his passing made it way more special in the end. I loved it, but it has become a bit more than just an album. Mixed in with his tiny desk performance, it has become something else in my eyes. And I will forever appreciate it.
With Mac, its really hard to say you’ve listened and appreciated everything he has released fully. That’s how much music he had made. I only found out this year the guy had a Jazz album, and I have been religiously listening to it ever since. And there are older albums that I will probably spend my lifetime trying to appreciate.
What made Mac so dope, was that he was like all of us weird kids in high school. From his interviews you saw a guy who could be awkward, quiet and weird or be super funny once he got used to you. I saw the guy grow up basically and heard his music mature. You could also hear the vulnerability and fear in his music. He wasn't trying to be fake hard or anything. He was just being himself. I think. I mean I didn't know him.
He was in this pocket that only he had. He was a white guy who loved hip hop. He didn’t really try to be black, but understood the culture and seemed to respect it, and the culture did seem to respect him back. At first glance it doesn't make sense how him and Schoolboy Q could be friends. I mean one is a hard rapper from Compton. The other is a kid who had a reality show at like 16. But I guess that’s the kind of guy he was. All the interviews and people talk about his childlike and likeable character. And Through his music you could kind of get the feeling of that.
I think he was on the rise musically. He was getting into his own and was starting to experiment with a lot of different sounds. He had a great ear for music and was only going to get better. And I truly don’t believe we had heard the best of him. I mean if you look at the trajectory,Watching Movies With the Sound Off, Faces, GO:OD AM, Divine Feminine, Swimming, IS that not an all time level run of albums, with the improvement there for any fool to see? Damn
Sadly, we didn’t get to see him grow up. The world will forever be cruel to us, whoever you are. But, he will forever be Easy Mac with the cheesy Raps.
RIP to the Most Dope.