Mac Miller became one of the most beloved artists in the world throughout his meteoric rise, and now that he is gone, fans are always reflecting on his legacy. On Friday, his infamous 2014 mixtape called Faces made its way to streaming services, and it has a lot of fans feeling nostalgic, and rightfully so. Mac was looking to innovate with his sound, and there is no doubt that his mid-2010s output is looked at and remembered fondly by the fans.
Back in 2014, Miller was looking for a major label deal, and while he ended up signing with Warner, it’s no secret that he almost ended up with Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records. As the artist’s engineer Josh Berg told GQ, however, Mac didn’t want to go that route because he thought that fans would accuse him of getting big off of a Jay-Z co-sign.
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“[Mac Miller] didn’t sign to Roc-A-Fella because he was like, ‘I’m not gonna have it be that I needed the Jay-Z feature to get famous, for people to validate me and then people think it’s about that validation,’” Berg explained. Eventually, Mac found his home with Warner where he produced some of the best albums of his career. Of course, Mac had respect for Jay, but he knew that people would undermine his success if it came from one of the biggest artists in the world.
At this point, no one can question Mac’s impact, and for all intents and purposes, he made the right choice with his label. As for the re-release of Faces, you can’t help but look back and realize how that project changed the direction of Mac’s career.
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