The late Mac Miller was a creative tour de force who first shot to fame as a teenage prodigy. The rapper lived up to the initial hype before blossoming into one of the most talented lyricists of his generation. This footage of him freestyling as a teen shows that Mac was no ordinary talent.
He first started releasing music as Easy Mac while he was a teenager, and his debut mixtape But My Mackin’ Ain’t Easy arrived in 2007 under this moniker when he was just fifteen. Staggeringly, at this point, Miller had only been rapping for 12 months, and only two years later, his first two mixtapes arrived as Mac Miller.
The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life led to him receiving widespread recognition, with his name finally starting to get clout. Throughout his devastating short career, Miller released four full-length studio albums during his life and the posthumous Circles, which his mourning fans greeted with mixed emotions last year.
The album was initially made as a companion album for Swimming, but, sadly, he wouldn’t be here for the second part of the project to arrive.
Miller’s music incorporated many different influences under the umbrella of hip hop and made him a unique voice in the scene. Even though he was only 26 when he died, Miller forged a canon of songs that will keep his legacy alive.
The tragic end to his story adds a level of poignancy to everything he touched throughout his career. Following his death, footage emerged on social media of him on the school bus freestyling, and even though he was just a teenager, who was far from the finished article, the raw talent of Miller is clear as day.
When he’s spitting bars, Miller was in his element. It didn’t matter whether he was playing to thousands of folk in a theatre or just trying to impress a handful of friends on the way back from school on the bus.