Credit: Brick Stowell

Mac Miller was an uber-talented gift to hip-hop and the music industry. The Pittsburgh-born creative almost had two distinguishable careers in one due to the extreme level of diversity of his music and his ability to swiftly glide through and combine different genres.

His untimely death in 2018 is an stain on the music industry and deprived him of becoming something greater while also stripping fans of more of his masterful music. 

Mac, born Malcolm McCormick, was destined to light up music in some way or another. A natural talent from the get-go, he taught himself to play the piano, guitar, drums and bass all by the age of six. At an age where most of us were struggling to even spell the word ‘guitar’, the Pennsylvania native was already forging his future stardom. 

He was the son of makers and creatives; his mother was a photographer and his father an architect. They wanted their son to receive a good education and Miller did, graduating from Taylor Allderdice High School. Education wasn’t the young musician’s priority, despite the fact he was an exemplary academic, once he started rapping it was all he could think about.

His earlier years as an artist defined McCormick’s first career in the industry with funky and electrifying tracks that were underlined by sheer fun. His blow-up mixtape K.I.D.S is a prime example of this. Tracks like ‘Knock Knock’ and ‘The Spins’ are dance-inducing bombs of pure energy, it’s evident how much he’s enjoying himself making music, and it was this sentiment that drew a lot of people to him; people are passionate about other people’s passion.

His debut studio album Blue Slide Park took this idea and ran with it. Its electronic and heavy beat-based backing combined with Miller’s excitable approach and flow saw it become a hit with fans and critics, as it instantly jumped right to number one on the Billboard 200 upon release.

He continued mining this rich vein of success in 2013, releasing Watching Movies with the Sound Off. This album saw the same of what people expected and desired from Mac but was notably praised by critics for his development of a more psychedelic sound. This was a sign of things to come. 

The Pittsburgh rapper’s second career arguably began with the release of 2014’s GO:OD AM. Here, we see him begin to become more vulnerable in his lyrics, opening up slightly about his mental health issues, something he later became an advocate for but also something he sadly couldn’t overcome. 

His music continued to become more sensitive, clearly using music as a more personal form of expression, as he delved further into more jazz and soul-inspired sound with the releases of The Devine Feminine in 2016 and Swimming in 2018. This was the Mac Miller that was widely known by the end of his career.

Before his musical transformation, he sat down with Complex in 2013 to discuss his favourite albums. Included on the list was a mixtape called Duck Butter Vol. 1 by the group Duck Hunters. He described the album as “One of the greatest things that’s ever happened to music”, but also noted, “you’ve gotta research it”.

This group comprised of three members of the collective Most Dope; Jimmy Murton, CLOCKWORKDJ and Peanut. True to his word on research and forever a music connoisseur the album is notoriously quite difficult to come by, luckily you can find it in its entirety on YouTube.

Listening to the album it’s clear why early Mac chose this album at a critical point in his career. The tracks are chocked full of fun and amusing lyrics but also have a notable psychedelic influence to them. It’s a mixtape made by musicians who love music.

Its inclusion was a seamless bit of self-promotion, as we are treated to a surprising feature by the Pennsylvanian on the track ‘Goose Porridge’, a secret piece to add to his discography for all those left wanting new Miller music.