A Few Reasons Why Mac Miller Is a Legend
Whenever I first saw the video for Nikes on My Feet, I instantly knew that it was one of the coolest things my twelve year old eyes had ever seen. I remember being elated that there was finally a white rapper out there who wasn’t trying their hardest to do their best Eminem impression. The video starts off with him waking up, going to school, and then skipping school to go hang out with his friends. I immediately became enamored with this dude who was talking about smoking weed and skipping class, something that I, at the time, thought was the paragon of what being an American youth was.
His K.I.D.S. mixtape was one of the seminal albums of my middle school years. It was one of those albums that you always remember where you were the first time that you heard it. I can still recall the goosebumps I got when I first heard the intro. His lackadaisical flow and playful liners were lovable and relatable. I still listen to “The Spins, “Outside”, “Knock Knock” and “Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza” today because they still hold up.
While I could go on and on about how much I enjoy his discography, I’d rather talk about why Mac Miller will go down in history as a legend within the hip hop community and abroad.
- Mac Miller Had a Number 1 Album That Was Released Independently
Mac’s popularity began through social media, the internet and DIY work ethics. He released Blue Slide Park in 2011, which sold 145,000 copies in its’ first week. At the time, it was the first independently released album that reached the number one spot since Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food. Before Macklemore and Chance helped change the landscape of music by staying independent, Mac was paving the way for kids who wanted to own all the rights to their masters. He had a blueprint that has been copied and duplicated many times throughout music history and for good reason.
2. His List of Collaborators Is Incredible
While there are certainly artists that would not be considered legendary that have worked with a wide variety of people, Mac’s rolodex of collaborators is extensive and diverse. There are not many people out there who are well-rounded enough to work with John Mayer, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Earl Sweatshirt, Juicy J, Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Maroon 5, Chief Keef, The Internet, Jon Brion, and Little Dragon, among many others. He was a musical chameleon, crafting and blending a landscape of different sounds and genres.
3. He Was More Than Just A Rapper
While he’s most known for being a rapper, Mac also has a large catalog under different production monikers such as Larry Fisherman, Larry Lovestein & the Velvet Revival, and Delusional Thomas. Not very many rappers out there produce their own music, and Mac Miller was an exception. Often under the Larry Fisherman appellation, Miller would create many of the intricate, genre-defying beats that he was known for spitting over. He would also produce beats for other rappers under the name, such as Vince Staples, who created an entire EP under the name Stolen Youth that was solely produced by Fisherman. The Larry Fisherman name was used until after the release of Swimming, which included him changing his Instagram handle from Fisherman to Mac Miller.
Under Larry Lovestein, he created a jazz album that featured electronic production and Mac singing. Mac would lean into the jazz influences in much of his later albums, such as The Devine Feminine and Swimming. At the time, it was a left turn from what people had heard from Mac, ushering in the Watching Movies With the Sound Off era, which featured Flying Lotus, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler, the Creator and Pharrell.
While creating as Delusional Thomas, Miller released a mixtape under the same name. It featured Earl Sweatshirt, Da$h and Miller himself. The mixtape features Mac rapping in a pitch altered voice, rapping about extremely violent and explicit themes. Delusional Thomas was a character Mac created that was supposed to be evil, drug influenced and rambunctious. The lyrical themes to the mixtape are horrocore influenced, with bars about defecation, drugs and murder being projected over boom bap beats.
All of the moniker projects were not necessarily aiming for Top 40 charts, which is apparent when given a listen. They show a multi-faceted creative who wanted to go down as many avenues as possible without having to commit to a specific sonic blueprint.
His last two studio albums, The Devine Feminine and Swimming show a departure from a lot of Miller’s other releases. The former was a positive, libido heavy album about love and relationships. Musically, it was a grand, jazz influenced album, featuring exuberant horn arrangements, groovy drum beats, and Mac’s trademark lyrics that showed his heart on his sleeve. The album featured artists ranging from Ariana Grande, CeeLo Green, Anderson Paak and Kendrick Lamar, among others.
While Swimming was a much more somber, introspective album, it was much different than any of his previous releases. With production help from Jon Brion of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fame, the album had a much more spacious, luscious production quality. The lyrics were often times pained and troubled, while featuring themes of drugs, love, and existential pondering.
Many of the arrangements on both of these albums were written by Mac Miller, most impressively showcased on the track “2009” from Swimming, which features a beautiful orchestral display on the introduction. Other instances of compositional genius peek in on “Stay”, “Dang!” and “Come Back to Earth”.
Mac Miller was much more than a rapper. He was much more than a white rapper. He was an innovative, ground breaking artist who influenced the sonic terrain of the 21st century heavily. I don’t think history will ever forget Mac because he has influenced your favorite rappers, singers, songwriters and producers. While he may not be alive, his contagious spirit for music lives on in his collaborators, his friends, and his fans.
And he did it all without a Drake feature. Rest in peace, Malcolm.