Last week served as one of the more memorable weeks in recent memory for our beloved hip-hop culture. June 18 served as a momentous occasion. Kanye West, J.Cole and Mac Miller all dropped on the same day, seizing the cry for real hip-hop.
While the talks centered on the Kanye vs. J.Cole battle, many undermined the third man, who delivered his own number one album on his first go-around. The eclectic Mac Miller is back after slaying his competitors independently on his debut album The Blue Slide Park, in which he sold 145,000 copies during its first week.
With a slew of hip-hop bangers on his resume. including several opuses in the form K.I.D.S. and Best Day Ever, Mac Miller has proven to be a formidable threat at the tender age of 21. With his lyrical onslaught captivating both his listeners and adversaries alike, Mac has garnered immense respect among the hip-hop community.
Mr. Donald Trump sat down with Dime to talk about his sophomore endeavor Watching Movies with the Sound Off, his favorite guest appearance on his new album, the comeback of lyricism, white rappers, and his love for Tracy McGrady.
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Dime: I remember waking up in the morning and getting a text message from my home girl and it was your album cover. I was like “Yo?!”
Mac Miller: [Laughs] That’s a wild text message to wake up to bro.
Dime: I was like, “Yo. It’s 8 o’clock in the morning and my dude Mac Miller is chilling with just an apple.”
MM: [Laughs] Yeah!
Dime: How did the idea for the album cover come together?
MM: What had happened was I had this idea for a cover that I wanted to do. I wanted to do this farmhouse and everything. But, I didn’t realize there was already an R2D2 cover so I was like “Fuck.” So we went to the studio to do some shots and we didn’t know what we were doing. I was kind of like just setting up something like “Fuck it. Let’s just do the album cover right now.” And we just set it up.
Dime: So you just walked out like “f*** it,” and took your pants off? [Laughs]
MM: Yeah. [Laughs] Yeah. I always low key wanted to do that. But I’m just a believer in wanting things to be laid out. So like all the items that were there were very meaningful and symbolic. I love that cover, dude. I really love that cover. I’m really happy for the way it came out.
Dime: On the album, you have a lot of familiar faces and friends of yours. You have Tyler. You have Soul. [Ab-Soul] You have Action [Bronson]. I’m curious. All these dudes are tight lyricists, but out of all those features, who you think had the hardest verse?
MM: Oh Jay Electronica.
Dime: Easily?
MM: I mean Jay got it. His verse was beyond. I mean like you really gotta read through his shit.
Dime: Like Rap Genius it?
MM: You gotta read the lyrics bro. Like I don’t even wanna tell you. I’m gonna let you go and read it. You gotta read it. I don’t wanna tell you. But what he’s talking about is just…
Dime: I was just mind-fucked when I first heard it.
MM: Right. It’s wild, especially how he comes in. Right when his voice comes in, it’s like “Holy shit. The God Emcee.” It’s tight.
Dime: You what I wanted to know, how did you get Loaded Lux on the album. How did that come together?
MM: Oh because I’ve always been an easy target for people to talk shit on. So my whole thing was like have the best shit-talker talk shit on my own album you know what I’m saying? I thought that would be tight. It worked out perfectly. For his verse, I just reached out like, “Bro. Just diss me. I want an acapella and you just diss me for the album.”
Dime: And what did he say?
MM: He said hell yeah. [Laughs] That was tight. He was with it completely. So he dropped that and it ended up being perfect for the vibe of the album. Like the who the f— is Mac Miller part, it just works perfectly. So that was crazy because he hadn’t heard anything from the album. Like he didn’t know anything about the album but for some reason it just fit perfectly.
Hit page 2 to see what he thinks about real lyricism coming back…
Dime: You have a lot of dudes like yourself, Kendrick, J.Cole, and Tyler – real music is essentially coming back. Do you feel lyricism is spearheading itself back to the top?
MM: I mean I feel like for instance like when you go to the club, you still wanna hear the same shit. Like for instance, I don’t know a motherf—– here that would pick some awesome lyricism to hear if you’re with a bunch of b——. So that’s still gonna be there. That’s perfect. We need that. But I’m saying that it’s dope to see all these kids and the youth to be so excited about witty lyricism, cleverness, intelligent ideas and creative things. That’s what’s really cool to me. There’s all these young kids with Kendrick that say, “Kendrick is the best rapper ever.” Like they’re geeked. That’s just dope to me to see the fans’ movement towards it and supporting it. That’s what we need. That [party] shit is always gonna be there. And that’s fine. But the cool thing is, you could be an underground independent millionaire rapper. That’s possible now because the fans loved it like that. These followers are getting huge. They’re all core followers. They’re getting very serious and very huge.
Dime: What’s common about you, Kanye and Cole — besides the album date — is that you all rap and produce. You’ve hopped on a Just Blaze beat, and a 9th Wonder beat, etc. Do you find more enjoyment in hopping on your own beat in contrast to rapping over their beats.
MM: I say yeah. [Laughs] And Just is the homie! I’ve learned from Just since forever. That’s like a real friend which is crazy. He looked out for me early, bro. Like Best Day Ever, that’s my second popular mixtape and he gave me a beat for the mixtape. It’s crazy. But I’m not gonna lie, I’d tell him to his face that I would be more excited to rap over my own beat.
Dime: You know what’s crazy? You, Macklemore, MGK and Action Bronson have proven that the race barrier is over.
MM: Yeah dude. [Laughs] White rappers are out here bro. It’s crazy.
Dime: Asher Roth. That’s my dude.
MM: Asher could really, really spit crazy, bro.
Dime: People try to put that “I Love College” tag on him.
MM: Right right, which is just weak. Man, I got tagged too. We all got the tags, bro. It’s whatever man. It’s rap.
Dime: Do you definitely think it’s over about the whole white rapper trying to break into the game talk?
MM: Ummm I don’t know, man. I can’t speak on it because I am a white rapper. But I don’t know. I think at the end of the day it’s about whether you’re nice or not. So if you’re nice, you’re nice. If you’re not, you’re not. Doesn’t matter if you’re White, Black, Asian or anything.
Dime: You’re right.
MM: Like I’m saying it’s tight. We’re out here. We’re ending the white rapper beefs, bro. Everyone is supporting each other and everyone is showing love to each other. Because back in the day, white rappers couldn’t fuck with each other. [Laughs]
Dime: I think it was Everlast who tried to beef with Eminem.
MM: Yeah, bro and I didn’t know why. But now it’s like ok.
What do you think?
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