Mac Miller
Encyclopedia
Malcolm McCormick known by his stage name Mac Miller (previously Easy Mac), is an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. He is signed to Rostrum Records
and released his debut album Blue Slide Park
on November 8, 2011.
. His father is Christian and his mother is Jewish; Miller was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah. Before attending Taylor Allderdice High School
, Miller attended Winchester Thurston School
. In high school, Miller decided to focus on his hip-hop career, later noting, "Once I hit 15, I got real serious about it and it changed my life completely ... I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties. But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that's all I did." Miller, also a self-taught musician at the age of 6, plays piano, guitar, drums, and bass.
. The Ill Spoken released the mixtape "How High" in 2008. Prior to changing his name to Mac Miller the rapper was known as EZ Mac and released the mixtape "But my Mackin Ain't easy'. In 2009 Mac Miller released the mixtape "The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown" and then "The High Life" later the same year.
In early 2010, Miller signed with Rostrum Records
. Rostrum president Benjy Grinberg had known the rapper for a while because he would often be recording at the same ID Labs studio when Grinberg would be there with Wiz Khalifa. The Rostrum president started giving Miller advice, but didn't show any interest in getting involved with his career until the artist began work on the K.I.D.S. mixtape, when, as he later told HitQuarters
, Grinberg "noticed a maturation in his sound and approach to his music." By that point Miller had started attracting interest from different record companies but in being his hometown label and the home of Wiz Khalifa, Rostrum was always his first choice. K.I.D.S. was released by the label in August 2010. The mixtape was inspired by the movie Kids
. A significant breakthrough came in late 2010 when Miller embarked on his first "Incredibly Dope Tour", which, for a debut tour, was very successful with every show selling out.
Miller's most recent release was a mixtape titled Best Day Ever
. The mixtape features his singles "Get Up", "Wear My Hat", and the more favorites "Donald Trump", "BDE Bonus" and "All Around The World". The mixtape features many well known producers including Just Blaze, 9th Wonder, and Chuck Inglish. On November 22, 2010 his first single "Knock Knock" premiered its video on YouTube
.
On March 29, 2011, he released an EP called On And On And Beyond. The six-track work was produced by Rostrum Records.
On July 5, 2011, Miller announced the title of his first album Blue Slide Park
on his YouTube channel, set for a Fall release. In September 2011 it was revealed that Miller would release a mixtape titled 92 Til Infinity hosted by DJ Jazzy Jeff
prior to the release of Blue Slide Park.
Prior to his 2011 national Blue Slide Park
across the U.S. Miller traveled Europe on his "Incredibly Dope Tour" visiting cities such as London
, Manchester
, Amsterdam
and more.
On October 14, 2011, Mac Miller released a 13 song mixtape named "I Love Life, Thank You" for reaching 1,000,000 followers on twitter
. It had features from Sir Michael Rocks of The Cool Kids
, Talib Kweli
, and Bun B.
On November 2011, Blue Slide Park debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 144,000 copies.
In 2010, he won two awards at the Pittsburgh hip-hop awards. His video "Live Free" won video of the year and he also won Best Artist Under 21. In September 2011 Maroon 5 announced that Mac Miller will be featured on their remix of their top chart song "Moves Like Jagger". In 2011 Miller was one of eleven rappers featured in XXL magazine's Freshman Class of 2011.
The video for the first single released from this mixtape, "Donald Trump", has reached over 27 million views on YouTube and Donald Trump himself, who is referenced on the song, acknowledged the video on the social networking site Twitter when it reached 20 million views stating "Who wouldn't be flattered?". He declared that Miller was the “new Eminem,” and stated “I am very proud of him.” Endorsements by Donald Trump
helped Miller become increasingly more popular. By naming a song after a powerful businessman, he became better known, and Trump brought both airplay and fame to his song. The song also charted on iTunes debuting at #73 and peaking at #40, before Miller was signed to a major label. He currently has his debut album scheduled to come out on November 8, 2011, and a tour for it called Blue Slide Park.
In 2011, his first TV appearance took place in the VH1
show Single Ladies
; he played a fictionalized version of himself that succeeded in selling one of his mixtapes to one of the main characters. Also in 2011, he was a part of MTV Jams Fab Five artists.
followers and over 1.5 million "likes" on Facebook
. He was able to get such a large fan base because he so frequently interacts with his followers, making them feel like an important part to the rise of his success and popularity. "I think the reasons my fans are super loyal is because when I was putting out mixtapes that weren't getting that much attention, kids would find them somehow. Kids would tweet their friends or however people got them back in the day. Kids would just hit me up on Facebook and I would talk to them and stuff like that."
Miller makes it a priority to make his music appeal to a wide variety of fans and bring an assortment of people together. In an interview for XXL Magazine he states, "My overall goal is to be able to speak and connect with the world. It’s a pretty big goal to set for myself, but with what I’m seeing right now and the path that I’m going on, I think that I can do it because I have experience with all different backgrounds and genres of music. I’m trying to have it where your straight trap dudes are listening to [my] music, as well as your straight hip-hop heads and people who listen to the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin, and the Sex Pistols."
Mac Miller includes Big L
, Lauryn Hill
, The Beastie Boys, Outkast
, and A Tribe Called Quest
among his influences. He also has a close relationship with fellow Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa
, saying "Wiz has been a big brother to me with this music thing so far. Our relationship is beyond music. He really is just my homie, whether I will be making music or not."
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. He is signed to Rostrum Records
Rostrum Records
Rostrum Records is an independent record label, founded in 2003 by Benjy Grinberg in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The label is currently focusing on its newest artist, Mac Miller, as well as his first album, titled Blue Slide Park which was released on November 8th 2011.With success by Rostrum...
and released his debut album Blue Slide Park
Blue Slide Park
-Track listing:*On some physical copies of the album a 17th song, "Donald Trump", is incorrectly listed as a bonus track on the reverse cover track listing...
on November 8, 2011.
Early life
Malcolm McCormick was born on January 19, 1992, the son of an architect and a photographer, and raised in the Point Breeze part of Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. His father is Christian and his mother is Jewish; Miller was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah. Before attending Taylor Allderdice High School
Taylor Allderdice High School
Taylor Allderdice High School, also referred to by the Pittsburgh Public Schools as “Pittsburgh Allderdice” or informally by students as "Dice", is a public high school located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh’s East End. Allderdice is the "largest of the Pittsburgh Public Schools'...
, Miller attended Winchester Thurston School
Winchester Thurston School
Winchester Thurston School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory school with two campuses: a Pre-Kindergarten through grade five North Hills Campus in Hampton Township and a Pre-Kindergarten through grade twelve City Campus in Shadyside, Pittsburgh...
. In high school, Miller decided to focus on his hip-hop career, later noting, "Once I hit 15, I got real serious about it and it changed my life completely ... I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties. But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that's all I did." Miller, also a self-taught musician at the age of 6, plays piano, guitar, drums, and bass.
Career
Before embarking on a solo career, Miller was part of rap group The Ill Spoken together with fellow Pittsburgh rapper, BeedieBeedie (rapper)
Brian Benjamin Green , better known by his stage name Beedie, is an American rapper based out of Pittsburgh, PA. Beedie has steadily been making waves in the underground music scene over the last few years, increasing his fan base through internet blogs and traveling...
. The Ill Spoken released the mixtape "How High" in 2008. Prior to changing his name to Mac Miller the rapper was known as EZ Mac and released the mixtape "But my Mackin Ain't easy'. In 2009 Mac Miller released the mixtape "The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown" and then "The High Life" later the same year.
In early 2010, Miller signed with Rostrum Records
Rostrum Records
Rostrum Records is an independent record label, founded in 2003 by Benjy Grinberg in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The label is currently focusing on its newest artist, Mac Miller, as well as his first album, titled Blue Slide Park which was released on November 8th 2011.With success by Rostrum...
. Rostrum president Benjy Grinberg had known the rapper for a while because he would often be recording at the same ID Labs studio when Grinberg would be there with Wiz Khalifa. The Rostrum president started giving Miller advice, but didn't show any interest in getting involved with his career until the artist began work on the K.I.D.S. mixtape, when, as he later told HitQuarters
HitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R...
, Grinberg "noticed a maturation in his sound and approach to his music." By that point Miller had started attracting interest from different record companies but in being his hometown label and the home of Wiz Khalifa, Rostrum was always his first choice. K.I.D.S. was released by the label in August 2010. The mixtape was inspired by the movie Kids
Kids (film)
Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances...
. A significant breakthrough came in late 2010 when Miller embarked on his first "Incredibly Dope Tour", which, for a debut tour, was very successful with every show selling out.
Miller's most recent release was a mixtape titled Best Day Ever
Best Day Ever (mixtape)
Best Day Ever is the sixth official mixtape from rapper Mac Miller. The Mixtape was released online March 11, 2011. Over 20,000 viewers joined Miller for a live video stream just prior to releasing the tape...
. The mixtape features his singles "Get Up", "Wear My Hat", and the more favorites "Donald Trump", "BDE Bonus" and "All Around The World". The mixtape features many well known producers including Just Blaze, 9th Wonder, and Chuck Inglish. On November 22, 2010 his first single "Knock Knock" premiered its video on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
On March 29, 2011, he released an EP called On And On And Beyond. The six-track work was produced by Rostrum Records.
On July 5, 2011, Miller announced the title of his first album Blue Slide Park
Blue Slide Park
-Track listing:*On some physical copies of the album a 17th song, "Donald Trump", is incorrectly listed as a bonus track on the reverse cover track listing...
on his YouTube channel, set for a Fall release. In September 2011 it was revealed that Miller would release a mixtape titled 92 Til Infinity hosted by DJ Jazzy Jeff
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Jeffrey Allen Townes , also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff or simply Jazz, is an American hip hop, R&B record producer, turntablist and actor. He is best known for his early career with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince...
prior to the release of Blue Slide Park.
Prior to his 2011 national Blue Slide Park
Blue Slide Park
-Track listing:*On some physical copies of the album a 17th song, "Donald Trump", is incorrectly listed as a bonus track on the reverse cover track listing...
across the U.S. Miller traveled Europe on his "Incredibly Dope Tour" visiting cities such as London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and more.
On October 14, 2011, Mac Miller released a 13 song mixtape named "I Love Life, Thank You" for reaching 1,000,000 followers on twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. It had features from Sir Michael Rocks of The Cool Kids
The Cool Kids
The Cool Kids is an American hip hop group. Consisting of rappers Antoine "Sir Michael Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll , the group is based in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan...
, Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
, and Bun B.
On November 2011, Blue Slide Park debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 144,000 copies.
Awards and honors
In 2009 at age 17, he made it to the final four in Rhyme Calisthenics, the MC competition at Shadow Lounge.In 2010, he won two awards at the Pittsburgh hip-hop awards. His video "Live Free" won video of the year and he also won Best Artist Under 21. In September 2011 Maroon 5 announced that Mac Miller will be featured on their remix of their top chart song "Moves Like Jagger". In 2011 Miller was one of eleven rappers featured in XXL magazine's Freshman Class of 2011.
The video for the first single released from this mixtape, "Donald Trump", has reached over 27 million views on YouTube and Donald Trump himself, who is referenced on the song, acknowledged the video on the social networking site Twitter when it reached 20 million views stating "Who wouldn't be flattered?". He declared that Miller was the “new Eminem,” and stated “I am very proud of him.” Endorsements by Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
helped Miller become increasingly more popular. By naming a song after a powerful businessman, he became better known, and Trump brought both airplay and fame to his song. The song also charted on iTunes debuting at #73 and peaking at #40, before Miller was signed to a major label. He currently has his debut album scheduled to come out on November 8, 2011, and a tour for it called Blue Slide Park.
In 2011, his first TV appearance took place in the VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
show Single Ladies
Single Ladies (TV series)
Single Ladies is a television series on the VH1 network in the U.S. created by Stacy A. Littlejohn and produced by Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit Entertainment for the MTV network-owned cable channel. The show chronicles three friends, Val, Keisha and April, and their relationships...
; he played a fictionalized version of himself that succeeded in selling one of his mixtapes to one of the main characters. Also in 2011, he was a part of MTV Jams Fab Five artists.
Musical philosophy
He remains an independent artist signed only to a local label, Rostrum Records. Miller was a pioneer in using social networking to connect with fans, which is why he has a large fan base. He gained the support of over 1.2 million TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
followers and over 1.5 million "likes" on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. He was able to get such a large fan base because he so frequently interacts with his followers, making them feel like an important part to the rise of his success and popularity. "I think the reasons my fans are super loyal is because when I was putting out mixtapes that weren't getting that much attention, kids would find them somehow. Kids would tweet their friends or however people got them back in the day. Kids would just hit me up on Facebook and I would talk to them and stuff like that."
Miller makes it a priority to make his music appeal to a wide variety of fans and bring an assortment of people together. In an interview for XXL Magazine he states, "My overall goal is to be able to speak and connect with the world. It’s a pretty big goal to set for myself, but with what I’m seeing right now and the path that I’m going on, I think that I can do it because I have experience with all different backgrounds and genres of music. I’m trying to have it where your straight trap dudes are listening to [my] music, as well as your straight hip-hop heads and people who listen to the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin, and the Sex Pistols."
Mac Miller includes Big L
Big L
Big L may refer to:* Lamont Coleman , better know by Big L, American hip-hop artist.Or a number of British radio stations:*Big L 1395, a British radio station.*Radio Luxembourg's English-language progammes ....
, Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
, The Beastie Boys, Outkast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
, and A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
among his influences. He also has a close relationship with fellow Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa
Wiz Khalifa
Cameron Jibril Thomaz , better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa , is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007...
, saying "Wiz has been a big brother to me with this music thing so far. Our relationship is beyond music. He really is just my homie, whether I will be making music or not."
External links
- Rostrum Records: Mac Miller
- TreeJTV
- Donald Trump on Mac Miller[1.http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.16501/title.donald-trump-brands-mac-miller-the-next-eminem]
- Donald Trump Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74TFS8r_SMI
- Donald Trump Chart Stats http://www.downloadcharts.net/us/artists/music/mac-miller/songs/donald-trump/
- Miller Signs to Rostrum Records http://areyouinthatmoodyet.com/?p=22457
- Moves Like Jagger Remix http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/mac-miller-to-appear-on-maroon-5s-moves-like-jagger-remix/
- XXL Interview http://www.xxlmag.com/2011-freshman-class/mac-miller/