The estate’s latest approval has fans jumping for joy. Legendary producer Madlib and Mac Miller’s collaborative project Maclib will finally see the light of day. During Madlib’s appearance on Sway In The Morning, the musician revealed that the estate had finally approved its release.
Madlib announces in his new interview with Sway that his collaborative LP with Mac Miller, ‘Maclib’ is being wrapped up and is on the way pic.twitter.com/sJ8ZYs9UO8
Although Madlib didn’t share much about the project during the interview, he’s what we do know. Mac Miller and Madlib began working on the project sometime before Mac’s 2018 death. When host Sway asked Madlib about the project, calling it Maclib, the producer did not correct the name of the project. So, it is safe to assume the name has not yet changed. Also, during the interview, Madlib discussed that there were are few other projects he’s working on, so Maclib, could drop Maclib after those are done. A formal release date was not given, but during the chat, he didn’t rule out the project being released before the year’s end.
Madlib has previewed different parts of the project at his shows, but he has made it clear that it may not be a full-length project but rather he EP because of how much original material was recorded.
Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Mac Miller‘s death sent tidal waves through the music community. Heavily touted as a unique talent and intimate soul, his journey was left tragically unfinished. Openly addicted to drugs and dealing with depression, Mac was an example of why artists often struggle with the limelight. However, the flawed figure had a noticeable impact on any collaborator he worked with. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Miller was born to a creative family that enhanced his musical interests. By age six, he was already learning the drums and the piano.
The rapper was spitting rhymes on the school bus by his freshman year of high school, orchestrating random jam-out sessions where his buddies acted as impromptu drum sets or hi-hats. The Pittsburgh outfit would continue to hone his craft, releasing his breakout mixtape K.I.D.S at only 18 years old. Soon, making large-scale connections and signing a record deal with Rostrum Records, he released his debut studio album, Blue Slide Park, in 2011.
For all of Mac’s faults, he was one of the most influential artists of our generation. Mac was more than just a rapper, improving leaps and bounds as a vocalist or multi-instrumentalist throughout his career. With his last few albums being his best work, Mac is one of hip-hop’s biggest “what if” stories.
10. Blue Slide Park
His debut studio album, Blue Slide Park is a noticed maturation from the lyrical and production sound of his mixtapes. Mac is impressively able to find his distinctive voice throughout the 46-minute record. The project is famously known for receiving a scathing 1.0 mark from Pitchfork. However, that rating has since been disproven. Employing a timeless sound, tracks like “Party of Fifth Ave” or “PA Nights” still sound just as fresh today.
Additionally, the record sold 145,000 in its first week, shooting straight to #1 on the Billboard charts. Blue Slide Park is full of egotistical, party-rap bops. While it’s far more surface-level than his later releases, it’s an admirable full-length debut. A direct shoutout to his upbringing in Pittsburgh, it’s a transition album from his fun mixtapes to his later, more mature records.
9. Best Day Ever
The follow-up mixtape to his hit day-view mixtape K.I.D.S, Best Day Ever saw Mac Miller strip down his sound to appeal to his hoards of new fans. Bringing in fellow Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa, the mixtape was ultimately an attempt to mold himself into a household mainstream rapper. The result is mixed from front to back, as cringeworthy choruses and forced verses are undeniably present throughout the album.
However, Best Day Ever still features much of what made early-era Mac Miller great. It’s braggadocios, groovy, and has plenty of timeless bangers such as “Donald Trump” and title track, “Best Day Ever.” While Best Day Ever is mixed better while seeing Mac improve on his technical songwriting chops, it’s missing the uniqueness or nostalgic bite of K.I.D.S.
8. K.I.D.S
Iconic, nostalgic, and downright fun. The debut streaming mixtape from Mac, K.I.D.S is a coming-of-age collection of boom-bap rap and jazzy beats. Even on his early mixtapes, he had proved that he wasn’t in the game to sound like everyone else. Sampling the likes of Empire of the Sun and Nas, he displayed an inherent knack for utilizing great sounds.
Throwing the listener in the headspace of a sunny day riding a bike with friends, K.I.D.S is a 47-minute middle finger to what’s to be expected of him. Ditching high school or the traditional college route, Mac idolizes smoking weed or being with women. He and his friends are driving around town without a destination, searching for the next high of childhood. Purposefully goofy, he flexes as any other indulgent teenager would.
Clearly listening to hip-hop from the West to the East Coast, Miller integrates the two styles into an eclectic blend. Tracks such as “Nikes On My Feet” and “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza” are much the latter, with Joey Bada$$‘s influence written all over them. However, tracks such as “Knock Knock” and “The Spins” very much contain the freedom or spontaneity of a West Coast track. While he hasn’t found his distinctive sound, Mac still finds a way to make K.I.D.S sound uniquely him.
7. Macadelic
While Blue Slide Park was largely devoid of features, Macadelic saw him work with plenty of collaborators. From Lil Wayne to Kendrick Lamar, Mac sounds far more comfortable when able to rely on the energy of others to create in comparison to Blue Slide Park. Taking a noticeable step up in the lyrical department, he comes off as a rapper who’s more confident about the subject matter he’s rapping about.
Mac Miller is unsettlingly dark and pensive on Macadelic, talking about his addiction to codeine and questioning religion. He puts it all on the table, throwing away the façade that his drug and fame-filled lifestyle was an endless fever dream. Some of Mac’s essential hits appear on the record, such as “Loud” and “Fight the Feeling.”
Macadelic suffers from the common theme of Mac’s early records of being far too long. Surpassing the hour mark, it’s a tedious front-to-back listen. However, he’s able to use the run-time to express more stylistic range than ever. Hopping from Soul to Trap-based influences, it was his most unpredictable record to date.
6. Watching Movies With The Sound Off
Mac’s second studio album, Watching Moves with the Sound Offwas his most experimental record. Playing around with ethereal beats and vocal pitch shifting, it was his most psychedelic record, as well. Mac recruited the likes of Clams Casino and The Alchemist to curate his sound. In an interview with Complex, Mac described the record as “very introspective and very personal, so it’s kind of throwing it all out there and seeing what happens.” After settling into the “weed rapper” persona for a few years, the 2012 release marked a significant crossroads in his career, where he could distinguish his narrative from that stereotype.
With guest features from the likes of Action Bronson, Earl Sweatshirt, and Schoolboy Q, Mac was an established force in the music industry by this time. Additionally, the features seemed to compliment his grittier narratives far better than on previous projects. He focuses far more on his vocal delivery on the project, which he’d been struggling with previously. Initially aspiring to be a singer before becoming a rapper, it’s no wonder he began venturing into different vocal pallets at this career stage.
While Watching Movies with the Sound Off is a little lengthy, plenty of memorable moments remain stuck in my head ten years later. You have Earl’s verse on the back end of “I’m Not Real,” or the trippy summertime vibes of “Someone Like You.” There’s no question that some of his best tracks appeared on this album. From warped reverb guitars to psychedelic synths, the record was his most cohesive and mature project.
5. The Divine Feminine
Mac’s fourth studio album,The Divine Feminine, ties together grandiose vocal harmonies and airy piano chords for his most pleasant-sounding record to date. Featuring some absolute slappers, we have some great features from Anderson Paak and Kendrick Lamar. Full of earworm choruses, “Dang!” and “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty” are two of his best tracks. Mac focuses more than ever on his psychedelic blend of jazz and hip-hop on The Divine Feminine. In many ways, the production techniques on this record would be fully realized on Swimming.
As is implied by the title, Mac is narratively focused on his relationships with women throughout The Divine Feminine, or as he puts it, “the feminine energy of the planet.” Referencing his past relationship with Nomi Leasure in contrast to his current relationship with Ariana Grande, he reflects on the subtle differences between the two experiences. Grande later confirmed that “Cinderella” was about her.
The Divine Feminine is a sonic and narrative contrast to Good A:M. Peeling back the many layers of love, it replaces hard-hitting bops with introspective grooves. In retrospect, it feels like the project that cemented Mac as a multi-creative force rather than just your other mainstream MC.
4. Good A:M
A banger-filled follow-up to Watching Movies with the Sound Off, the project sees Mac noticeably progress in terms of his ability to create a narratively engaging project. While he remains fully engaged in the pure hip-hop era of his career, Good A:M would be the last (relatively) straightforward rap project from Mac Miller. In many ways, Good A:M is a homecoming to his early rap days. The production mirrors his early mixtapes, showcasing a significant improvement from Mac.
In his most cohesive record up to this point, he discusses topics regarding addiction, fame, and personal growth. Mac states: “White lines be numbing them dark times / Them pills that I’m popping, I need to man up / Admit it’s a problem, I need a wake up / Before one morning, I don’t wake up.” In retrospect, it’s another harrowing line that showcases how he was self-conscious about his shortcomings.
Good A:M bounces from beautiful jazz-rap samples to reverb-filled trap bangers. He recruits the likes of Chief Keef and Lil B for the latter, who each deliver a refreshing change of pace on their respective tracks. While the project suffers from a common thread of overstaying its welcome, this doesn’t weigh down the record to the same extent as past projects. Good A:M is a pleasant mix of moody and hype songs that signaled his outstanding growth from Blue Slide Park to the Fall of 2015.
3. Faces
Initially released in 2014, Faces was re-issued to streaming services in 2021. A firm fan favorite, the mixtape was finally released as a retrospective celebration of his life. As Mac Miller’s astounding eleventh (and best) mixtape, the record is peppered with topics surrounding our mortality and his personal struggle to discover meaning. Up to this point, Faces sees Mac as more unfiltered and raw than ever.
While Faces is officially a mixtape, it certainly feels like a full-length experience. Running just past the 90-minute mark, the jazz-adjacent jams feature iconic Miles Davis samples and bass guitar riffs from close friend Thundercat. Oddly enough, the album feels more relevant now than in 2014. The leisurely and abstract nature of the production better mirrors present-day hip-hop styles than those relevant back when Faces was released.
An even more tragic listen when consumed with the context of Mac’s death, it almost feels as if Mac is accepting of his approaching demise on the record. “Grand Finale,” the final track off of the mixtape, sees Mac claim that it would be the final song he would ever put out. Full of fantastic features, we see common contemporaries such as Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples on the record. Hauling in a West Coast collective of MCs, Mac’s pen game is at its peak on the mixtape.
2. Swimming
Mac Miller’s fifth studio album, Swimming, was his most vulnerable record. It had been a rough six months leading up to the record’s release. Mac was arrested for a DUI, as he references in “Hurt Feelings.” Recently breaking up with Ariana Grande, the album contains a definite “me against the world mentality.” Mac explores his loneliness amidst a pool of emotions, feeling as lost as ever at 26.
There’s an apparentTo Pimp a Butterflyinfluence on Swimming, as Mac integrates groovy jazz basslines on the likes of “Ladders” and “Self Care.” Of course, this isn’t the first time Mac toyed with Jazz or Soul influences. In fact, Swimming feels like a project he had built up to throughout his career trajectory. Take The Divine Feminine, where Anderson Paak and Kendrick Lamar-featured tracks add in falsetto horns and rapid tempo drums.
Swimming is a fully realized version of the eclectic blends of Jazz-Rap that Mac Miller had been going for in the past. The record is so fascinating in that, in many cases, the sound directly contrasts with Mac’s lyricism. The music acts as a therapeutic escape for him, masking him from the reality of his mental state. However, this isn’t a concurring theme from start to finish. “Perfecto” is far more melancholic, as Mac references Grande with the line, “She put me back together when I was out of order.” “2009” features earnest, piercing piano chords as he sighs, “I don’t have it all, but that’s alright with me.” Swimming is arguably the best sounding project in his discography.
1. Circles
It’s both tragic and beautiful that Mac’s only posthumous release would be his best project. Circles is precisely that. Reflective and harrowing, the record was intended to be a narrative companion to Swimming. He completed the vast majority of the project before his sudden passing. It took composer-producer Job Brion to complete the mixing process of the record. On Circles, Mac Miller is swimming in a despondent loop, living on a high tossing him into the same fortuitous cycle of drug use and depressive episodes.
While Mac seems wholly lost on Swimming, Circles seems to see him find his footing a bit more. He’s more conscious of the inherent ebbs and flows of life or accepting the trends that have led him to his current mental state. On “Surf,” he states, “It’s more when I’m standin’ in crowds that I’m feelin’ the most on my own.” He continuously references this juxtaposition throughout Circles, repeating “good news is all they wanna hear” on the isolating “Good News.”
Circles was meant to symbolize a new sonic direction for the Pittsburgh-born rapper. Dreaming of one day being a singer before his rap career took off, the record felt like a new stage in his astounding evolution as an artist. Predominately indie-folk, Mac Miller raps less than ever on the record. The one exception is “Blue World,” a rare moment of clarity and contentment amidst stuttering vocal samples. In retrospect, Circles is the best form of closure fans could’ve asked for.
For a time, it appeared that we’d gotten all the Mac Miller music we were ever going to after the rapper died in 2018. However, there was one project left that many fans still held out hope for: Maclib, a collaborative album with legendary Los Angeles producer Madlib, who has previously released well-received joint albums with the likes of J Dilla, Freddie Gibbs, and Talib Kweli.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of Maclib‘s release has been in doubt ever since shortly after producer Thelonious Martin revealed its existence. Although Madlib has occasionally played bits and pieces of the project in his live sets, he also noted that only about an EP’s worth of material was recorded and it wasn’t likely to see release.
However, Madlib restored hope this week when he and Kweli appeared on Sway In The Morning to talk about their latest album Liberation 2. In an aside during the interview, Madlib began listing some of the projects he has in the works including albums with Planet Asia and Erykah Badu. But it was the mention of Mac Miller that perked up Sway’s ears.
Madlib announces in his new interview with Sway that his collaborative LP with Mac Miller, ‘Maclib’ is being wrapped up and is on the way pic.twitter.com/sJ8ZYs9UO8
“Is that the same project that was mentioned years ago after he passed that was never released?” he asked. “Yessir,” Madlib confirmed. Sway, like the rest of us, couldn’t contain his excitement: “We ’bout to some new Mac Miller!” he exclaimed. Let’s all hope it’s sooner rather than later.
You can watch Madlib’s full interview with Talib Kweli and Sway above.
The long-awaited MacLib album by Mac Miller and MadLib is officially on the way. Madlib joined Talib Kweli on Sway In The Morning to promote Liberation 2, which Mac appears on posthumously. The legendary producer revealed that he’s wrapping up MacLib right now, as well as with a project with Erykah Badu. “Right now, I’m finishing up the Mac Miller album, Planet Asia album, Erykah Badu album, different stuff,” Madlib said. “[Erykah and I] just started on an album … We have a lot of unreleased stuff.”
The fact that there are now plans to release MacLib is a full 180 from previous statements made by Madlib in 2019. A few months after Mac Miller’s passing, the Pinata producer explained that there were no definitive plans to release the project. “The song still doesn’t have an official title, and there are no official plans to release the EP,” Madlib wrote on Rappcats.com shortly after previewing one of their collabs during a DJ set. However, during the interview with Sway, he confirmed that Mac’s family green-lit the release of the highly-anticipated project.
The History Of MadLib: Mac Miller & Madlib’s Relationship
The news of the project’s existence first came to light in 2019 when Thelonious Martin detailed opening up for Madlib. “So I’m trying to focus and DJ, and Madlib gets on and 15 minutes into his set he just randomly plays a Mac Miller joint. And I turn to him, I’m like, ‘There’s more of these, right?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a whole album. Maclib,’” Martin told DJBooth, though that was all we really knew of it at the time.
The two met when working on Freddie Gibbs’ Pinata, leading Madlib to send Mac Miller beats every once and a while. Over time, Mac would send records back, which eventually culminated into an “EP’s worth of music,” according to Madlib’s manager Eothen “Egon” Alapatt. “What exists is what the two had originally intended: an EP’s worth of music that was supposed to be the start of something,” Egon said in 2019. Hopefully, we’ll see the project drop in its entirety at some point this year. Stay tuned for more news on MacLib.
2023 will mark the five-year anniversary of Mac Miller’s untimely passing, and much of the music community still hasn’t fully processed the rapper’s death. Among those chiefly upset by his fatal overdose include ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande, who was on track to marry comedian Pete Davidson at the time. Prior to that relationship, she and the late star were together romantically from 2016 to 2018 after bonding throughout years of friendship.
After Miller’s passing, the sweetener songstress and her Staten Island-born beau went their separate ways. He’s presently spending time with Bodies Bodies Bodies co-star Chase Sui Wonders, while Grande has moved on to marry Dalton Gomez, a real estate agent whose life is mostly out of the spotlight. Even though she’s now with another, the former Nickelodeon star continues to make it obvious that there will always be room in her heart for her fallen former lover.
Revisit Ariana Grande and Mac Miller’s Undeniable Chemistry in “The Way” Visual
On Saturday (March 25), the duo’s 2013 collaboration, “The Way” celebrated its 10th birthday. Though Miller isn’t here to commemorate the special moment himself, Grande did her part to uphold his legacy by posting about their joint effort on her Instagram Story. “I love you,” she wrote at the bottom of the screen in tiny white font when sharing the song’s accompanying visual this past weekend.
As DailyMail notes, the vocalist did her part to make sure that her strong feelings for Miller were clearly felt online. In the comment section of the same video, she once again wrote, “I love you.” Throughout the years, the ponytail princess has often shared subtle but heartfelt tributes to her ex, who has gone on to inspire some of her most popular releases, such as “Thank U, Next.” While she continues to remember their love in a positive light, others, such as Kanye West, have tried to ruin that narrative by insisting Pete was sending photos of him and Ariana Grande in bed together to her ex following their split, seemingly resulting in his overdose. Read what the pop star’s brother had to say about that here, and check back later for more pop culture news updates.
Talib Kweli and Madlib created an undeniable classic when they joined forces on Liberation. The 9-song effort showcased Talib Kweli’s sharp lyricism over Madlib’s soulful, psychedelic production. It was a perfect pairing of collaborators, though its success didn’t necessarily spark an immediate urge to release a sequel. Fans waited for years, hoping to hear some sort of update from Kweli and Madlib.
In recent times, Talib Kweli and Madlib began working closely together again. It began with the release of the latest Black Star project, No Fear Of Time. Madlib held down the production on the entirety of Talib Kweli and Mos Def’s follow-up to their 1998 debut, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. The reunion between Kweli and Mos Def alone was enough to leave backpackers salivating at the mouth. However, Madlib’s assistance in the production sealed the deal for those who waited over 20 years for Black Star to reunite. And then, they began plotting the release of Liberation 2 when they dropped, “Longevity.”
Talib Kweli & Madlib – Liberation 2
Though it’s been less than a year since Mos Def and Talib Kweli reunited for No Fear Of Time, Kweli is back less than a year later with the sequel to Liberation. He and Madlib team up for the 15-song endeavor, which they launched with the release of “After These Messages” ft. Amani. The project includes a posthumous appearance from Mac Miller, as well as features from Westside Gunn, Roc Marciano, Q-Tip, Pink Siifu, and more.
“The materialism and debauchery that is stereotypically associated with hip-hop has lost some of its luster,” Kweli said of the project. “Madlib and I have been consistent in our messaging. Never has there been a better time for such honest, message-driven music that pays tribute to the sounds that came before us.” Unfortunately, Liberation 2 is exclusively available on the Luminary podcast network and there hasn’t been much mention of its release on DSPs yet. We’ll keep you posted on any more updates.
Liberation 2 Tracklist
Assata’s Code (feat. Diani)
Best Year Ever
Air Quotes (feat. Diani)
Nat Turner (feat. Cassper Nyovest & Seun Kuti)
One For Biz (feat. Wildchild & Q-Tip)
Loop Digga’s Revenge (feat. Goapele)
Ad Vice (feat. Diani & Pink Siifu)
Wild Sweet Love (feat. Moonbyrd & jessica care moore)
Wild Beauty (feat. Moonbyrd & Keenyn Omari)
The Right to Love Us (with Mac Miller)
After These Messages (feat. Amani)
Richies Part Two (feat. Roc Marciano & Westside Gunn)
Memphis rapper Big Scarr’s cause of death was a drug overdose of prescription pills. The “Fantasy” rapper’s uncle, Arthur Woods, claimed the rapper died at his girlfriend’s house before Christmas eve. According to reports, Big Scarr, 22, died from an overdose of prescription pills. His uncle, Arthur Woods, told TMZ his nephew was at his […]
This week had so much new music that we needed to drop a caveat: In more ways than one, it is great ensuring there is something for everyone, no matter the mood you’re in. Get that cold drink, chill by that pool, whip out those AirPods, and set it to the right volume to any […]
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