Send "Mac Miller " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 At the 2000 VMAs, Eminem's performance of "The Real Slim Shady" featured him walking across Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and into Radio City Music Hall followed by a few hundred extras that had been styled in his image, bleached hair and all. The performance was an arresting, and very literal, visual representation of the song's claim of there being "a million of us just like me." Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller is having his "'The Real Slim Shady' at the VMAS" moment right now, even if he'll never actually perform there. There are hundreds of thousands of listeners trailing him intensely-- Blue Slide Park sold just about 145,000 copes in its first week in stores, making it the first independently distributed album to go number one in 16 years. And the reason Miller's mass of fans follow him is not because of his music, at least not completely. It's because he looks just like them, because they can see themselves up on the stage behind him, if not next to him.It's a presumptive conclusion, but it's hard to find much, if anything, in Miller's music that suggests otherwise. He is an outsider, but he brings no outsider's perspective to his music. Forget Eminem, Miller's point of view is less unique than Asher Roth's or Childish Gambino's. He lusts after fame, money, and women, and he smokes weed and parties. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with that; it is rap music, of course. But it does raise the question of why Miller is so popular, because despite his claim of being a cross between John Lennon and UGK, he's mostly just a crushingly bland, more intolerable version of Wiz Khalifa without the chops, desire, or pocketbook for enjoyable singles. Unless you buy into Miller's persona-- and why would you?-- Blue Slide Park offers you nothing that you can't find done more much artfully by, say, Curren$y. This is, in a way, rap music's fault. Mac Miller has been called "frat rap," and while there's a slight truth to that, the term leaves unacknowledged the fact that frat guys used to engage with the rap world writ large. That interaction may have involved an unhealthy appreciation for Jurassic 5, but it also involved rocking YoungbloodZ and Ying Yang Twins songs at parties. The pop world has left rap behind, save four or five rappers, and it's opened a door for someone like Mac Miller to seize the college-aged, white-male fanbase. If that fanbase is interacting less with rap music, then maybe they've rallied around Miller because he also barely engages with the wider rap world. Consider the fact that Blue Slide Park has not one feature-- not a guest verse or chorus. For a contemporary rap album, let alone a number one rap album, that is basically unheard-of. Before you consider that to be a noble pursuit, the album could've used somebody, anybody, to break up the monotony of Miller on the mic....full text |
| Allhiphop |
| Mac Miller used to be known as Wiz Khalifa’s little homie when he first broke onto the scene, but things are quite different now. Creating a buzz disassociated from anyone but himself, the Pittsburgh representative has gained the approval of many Hip-Hop heavyweights while still maintaining a sound that appears to be ripe for today’s market – a big accomplishment. Blue Slide Park is Miller’s debut album, and listeners of the genre might be divided – between those who want to see him flourish, and those who expected him to fail. To begin, you have to understand a couple of things here. Mac Miller has been put on by an array of established artists and industry vets, including DJ Premier, DJ Jazzy Jeff, 9th Wonder, Bun B, Talib Kweli, and others. The fact that a white kid who is younger than A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory is getting instant acclaim from such giants in the genre has brought loads of hate, jealousy, and expectation. To be fair, Mac has been a very humble young man throughout all of this, giving out all the appropriate love and homage warranted. However, this seems to have disappeared on Blue Slide Park. The majority of Blue Slide Park’s production is handled by I.D. Labs, Ritz Reynolds, and Clams Casino – which wouldn’t be a problem if all of the beats were tight. But the majority aren’t. “Up All Night” sounds like a limited attempt at a Hip-Hop oriented Blink-182 track, “Smile Back” sounds like a undershot attempt at a braggadocio Wiz track, and “PA Nights,” “Diamonds & Gold,” and “Frick Park Market” all sound like underwhelming attempts at Mac Miller tracks. It’s as if he hasn’t found his sound yet, which would be understandable if he hadn’t already established his sound with mixtapes and loose tracks....full text |
| Hiphopdx |
| Mac Miller’s rise to notoriety has been impressive. Even though Blue Slide Park is going down as his debut album, Miller’s already one of the culture’s most anticipated up and coming emcees. Spring boarding off mixtape success, Miller has catapulted to a world where fame, criticism and praise are all at his doorstep. In dropping this album, many are questioning if he can withstand the pressure bestowed upon him or if he will cave. Interestingly enough, Blue Slide Park doesn’t do anything to damage Mac's current status in the game, but it also doesn’t do much to raise it. As an emcee, Mac Miller comes off as an ambitious upstart who does a good job with tools at his disposal. His flow often stands out, as exemplified on “Man in the Hat.” Matching this infectious flow with calculated multisyllabic patterns and a charismatic confidence, he is able to showcase a strong presence behind the microphone, as heard on the title track (“Who you know that’s iller than Mac Miller and company? It’s like a planted money seeds right underneath the fuckin’ tree”). On the other hand, it can sometimes feel as though he isn’t equipped with all the proper tools to finish the job. This is heard when Miller uses cringe worthy lines like, “We just trying to go bananas like it’s Donkey Kong.” When he is focused (“Missed Calls”), Mac is able to channel his talents with success but his subject matter is often scattered and nonspecific, as exemplified with the dull sounds of “Loitering” and “My Team.” Mac also has a knack to cook up infectious hooks like “Under the Weather” and “Up All Night” but sometimes this can take a downturn. For instance, the chorus for “Frick Park Market” is eerily familiar to his recent hit “Donald Trump” and the hooks for the aforementioned “Loitering” and “My Team” are uninspired and repetitive. All of this reveals that while Miller has shown that he’s a capable emcee, he is still incapable of holding down a full album lyrically....full text |
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