The album Mac Miller called a “fuck you”
Mac Miller was a shining star of hip-hop that was sadly taken too soon. Shortly after the end of his very public relationship with Ariana Grande in 2018, the Pittsburgh-born artist tragically passed away in his home in California due to a drug overdose. Miller is remembered for the bouncing energy he brought to his tracks, his fun-filled flow and the soul-bearing honesty and vulnerability of his later works.
Born into a Christian-Jewish household, Mac was raised Jewish but attended a Catholic high school to ensure he could still play football and lacrosse while getting a good education. His real education came through music.
He was a self-taught musician, insanely coaching himself to play the piano, guitar, drums and bass by the age of only 6. As he entered his early teens, the Pennsylvania native started rapping and instantly caught the bug. Miller, whose real name was Malcolm McCormick, combined his natural musical ability with his otherworldly drive to forge his way in the industry.
He recounted his passion to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzete in 2010; “I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties. But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that’s all I did”. At 18 he released two mixtapes; The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life which won him the 21 & Under Award at the Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Award in 2010.
McCormick shot to stardom upon the release of his fourth mixtape K.I.D.S which is still loved and appreciated by fans and earned him a spot in the coveted XXL Freshman Class of 2011 alongside names like Kendrick Lamar and Meek Mill. It was in 2011 that he released his first studio album Blue Slide Park; a noteworthy effort that was the first independently distributed debut album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 since 1995.
Having put the hip-hop scene on notice, Mac’s 2014-2018 run certified him as one of the best in the game, and his release record for that period is one that any artist would be jealous of. 2015 saw the release of GO:OD AM, while 2016 and 2018 brought The Devine Feminine and Swimming respectfully.
These releases track McCormick’s musical maturity as he became more exposed in his tracks while making a tonal shift to a combination of rap, R&B and funk. His signature childlike flair never faded away, though, as he always made sure to include some electrifyingly energetic songs in all of his albums. He never lost his me against the world, anti-institutional attitude.
It makes complete sense then that when discussing his 25 favourite albums with Complex, he included Mm… Food, by another of the funky kings of fun; MF Doom.
Expanding on his choice, Miller said “I just like love the texture of his voice against the beats, like, it’s very ‘Fuck you.’”. He went on to say that he had never spoken to Doom personally but has a massive appreciation for his music; “It’s great music for like anything in life. You can play it anytime, it’s good”.
The inclusion of MF, whose real name was Daniel Dumile, is almost tragically appropriate as the London-born rapper was also stripped from us too soon. During the peak of the Covid pandemic in October 2020, he was admitted to a hospital in Leeds and shockingly passed away that same month from angioedema.
The pair share more than their early ends though. Dumile was also widely known for how much fun he would bring to the rap scene. Just listen to tracks like ‘Rap Snitch Knishes’ and ‘One Beer’ to see that he never took himself too seriously but always delivered masterful music.