The Mighty Mac

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he music Mac Miller makes has the seriously cool spirit you only get growing up fast on the city streets. If you lacked a proper electrical source you could keep everything in your icebox chilled by plugging it in to Mac Miller’s latest album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, an audio joy ride full of spine-vibrating bass, kick-ass lyrics and the kind of beats that can make driving fast and cool on any highway in America easy. Culture was fortunate to talk to Mac Miller about life in the success lane as he tours from city to city in support of his latest and greatest creation, Watching Movies with the Sound Off.

Born Malcolm James McCormick in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the young hip-hop artist released But My Mackin’ Ain’t Easy in 2007 at the tough age of 15. Shortly thereafter he signed up with Rostrum Records and released a series of mix tapes that proved that the powerhouse from Penn state had the potential to easily knock down other hip-hop heavyweights with stunning grooves and hard-hitting lines that belied his youth and revealed and man who knew how to handle a mic for any crowd, anywhere.

In 2011, the young musician unveiled his first LP, Blue Slide Park, a certified gold album that hasn’t stopped gaining fame since it hit the web. His second LP, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, released just a couple months ago, in June 2013, has taken his career to a whole new creative stratosphere.

Mac Miller is the kind of artist who isn’t afraid to talk about drugs, and what he has to say isn’t a simple yes or no. His answers possess a stark integrity which a person only gets after walking up and down that particular road, and it isn’t always fun. Does the mighty Mac Miller care about cannabis? In a conversation with online music journalist AndPop, the artist spoke honestly when asked about what he and his friends talk about when he uses cannabis. “When we get high we talk about, fuck, big, prolific shit,” Mac Miller says. “When I’m high with my homies, we always talk about deep shit [like] conspiracy theories, religion craziness and science.”

Mac Miller isn’t the first modern musician to confess to finding philosophy with the assistance of cannabis. Like most guys, when he smokes with his friends he’s serious about it. “We’re not dumb,” he says, describing some of the deep talks he’s had while medicating. “We don’t just talk about bitches and alcohol and weed, man. We have thoughts.”

When Mac Miller raps about cannabis, he’s just talking about life in his particular big city. That’s what his lyrics are all about. “It’s just about everyday life. That’s what we try to do. We try to talk about what we do every day. So if we’re smoking a lot of weed every day, then we’re going to rap about smoking a lot of weed every day. But I just bring a message of positivity that can speak to as many people as possible.”

Although you are still a very independent artist, the work you have done has already given you some serious fame and fortune. At this point in your career, after everything you’ve done, what is the most important thing to you?

Well I think it’s about not getting too big too quick. That’s the key to staying a real person even with success. I’m taking things step by step. Everyone wants to go straight from point A to Z, not realizing that everything in between is just as important if you want to be able to make it.

A lot of your music is upbeat. I like how you write a lot about the fun, cool details every person experiences growing up. I also like how you rap about the hard times, too. Do you sometimes feel like you have to perform some sort of happy act, because of the lighter material on your previous albums?

A lot of people see an artist as a person that’s always happy, always positive, but there are a lot of ups and downs in this world. There are a lot of valleys. Sometimes things aren’t awesome, but you have to go through every step of it. It’s tough when everyone expects you to just be that happy guy. I rap about that, too.

Listening to Watching Movies with the Sound Off made me realize how much your style has changed since anything you did before 2010. It had a very relaxed sense of confidence.

I think this album came to me at a point when I didn’t want to accomplish anything. The first album had to be big. I wanted to really accomplish something. With this one, I felt like I had more time to think about what I was saying.

It must have been cool being able to make an album without the pressure of it being the absolute totally greatest epic hit of your young human existence or else.

I did Watching Movies with the Sound Off mostly for fun.

This seems a lot less commercial than your previous hits. A lot of the material on the new album seems a lot more personal.

I wanted to create an album that had more purpose to it than just trying to be successful.

Some people say West Coast, some people say East Coast, but we both know that there are many different hip-hop styles out there to choose from. How would you classify your hip-hop?

I think it’s just a little bit of everything, even beyond hip-hop. I’m just trying to do everything I can. I hope nobody can classify my style or me.

It’s very cool that you aren’t afraid to talk about the downside in your music or during interviews. Now that you’ve been around, what’s the worst thing can happen to you as an artist?

Writing a song you really like. Sometimes you think no one likes it but you. It’s tough when people don’t like it at all.

How do you get through that?

You make a song that is just the real you. When you are creating music and putting your soul into it, then you realize it doesn’t matter who likes or doesn’t like it. Some of my favorite songs don’t get a lot of hits. Other songs might get popular, whether I think they deserve it or not.

Your music videos not only have some very stylish cinematography, but are also very funny. Whoever your working with really knows how to get some good shots from you, and the jokes you work in from your lines are genuinely funny.

Everything we do is just kind of made up at the last second. I don’t get directed to do anything. Everything I do comes from me. I work with a director I’ve worked with my whole career, and he really knows my style so it’s easy to put together.

Have you had any training? Watching a lot of your moves, it seems like you’ve done a lot of improvisational comedy or even stand-up comedy. Does that just come from spending a lot of time onstage and being interesting during interviews?

I guess I’ve practiced a lot doing shows. I really like comedy. I listen to a lot of stand-up on the road. Aside from music, humor is something that’s always been interesting to me. I’ve watched a lot of stand-up comedy and things like that on YouTube and the radio.

A lot of other hip-hop artists have turned their acting ability into some serious film roles, like Ice Cube, Common, Busta Rhymes and 50 Cent. Have you ever thought of trying that, yourself? You’ve had plenty of experience, because of the number of music videos you have on YouTube cannot easily be counted.

If the right stuff came through I’d definitely do it. I don’t mean maybe. I’ve talked about it with a few people, but I haven’t heard anything interesting yet. I’d do a film if it was a good one.

Now that you are older, tougher and wiser, what veteran advice would you offer to a young artist who wants to make it in an industry that isn’t always nice to the people in it?

I would tell them to not listen to anyone. You have to trust yourself with every decision, whether it’s your image or your music or your life. You are going to go through life surrounded by people who are going to tell you things like they really know who you are, but you have to know yourself to handle that and actually make it.