It has been over a year now since Mac Miller tragically died from an accidental drug overdose. It was a death that left so many people in the culture shocked and deeply saddened. We got to see Mac Miller grown as a person and an artist over the last decade. He completely transformed his sound which allowed him to remain relevant for years rather than just being one-hit wonder that made party music.
Luckily, Mac Miller has left the world a deep discography that will live on for many years to come. He has officially released 13 mixtapes, 5 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 2 EPs. In this list, let’s analyze Mac Miller’s top 9 projects…
9. Blue Slide Park
Blue Slide Park is Mac Miller’s first studio album and it was released under Rostrum Records which is an independent record label. At the time, the label was based in Mac’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Rostrum also had Wiz Khalifa signed to the label. To this day, Blue Slide Park is commercially Mac Miller’s most successful album. It sold 145,000 copies in its first week and has sold nearly 350,000 in total.
At the time of the album’s release, Mac was in his prime as a rapper that made music that could serve as the soundtrack to high school and college parties. This album isn’t #9 on my list because it consists of party music. It is #9 on this list because its songs don’t resonate the same way his 2011 mixtape Best Day Ever did. Nonetheless, Blue Slide Park is still a solid debut album in which teens from the early 2010s associate great memories.
Top Tracks: PA Nights, Frick Park Market, Under The Weather, Missed Calls, One Last Thing
Skippables: Up All Night, Man In The Hat
8. The Divine Feminine
The Divine Feminine is a project in which Mac Miller completely explores the concept of love and everything the comes with it. It features collaborations from various artists such as Ariana Grande, Anderson Paak, Bilal, CeeLo Green, Ty Dolla Sign, and Kendrick Lamar. What makes The Divine Feminine such as great album is that is fully showcases Mac Miller’s growth as an artist. In the project, he holds his own as a singer as well even with paired with R&B greats. The project can easily be characterized as smooth album with good vibes throughout. It really goes to showcase just how great Mac’s catalog is when an album like this comes in at #8 on my list.
Top Tracks: Congratulations, Dang!, Stay, Cinderella, Soulmate, We, My Favorite Part
Skippables: Skin
7. Swimming
The final project of Mac Miller’s catalog comes in at #7 on my list. Swimming was released nearly two years after The Divine Feminine. Tragically, Mac would pass away just 35 days after the release of Swimming. I can honestly say as a huge Mac Miller fan, this album took some time to grow on me. It truly takes multiple listens to hear and notice the intricacies of what Mac was able to pull of within this project. The album has no credited features but after listening you can hear vocals contributions from Snoop Dogg, Syd, Thundercat, and even J.I.D. After Mac Miller’s passing, listening to Swimming just feels different. On songs like “Wings”, “2009” and “So It Goes”, it almost feels likes these are his last words to his family, friends, and fans. Swimming is a very worthy final album in the great career of Mac Miller.
Top Tracks: Come Back to Earth, What’s the Use?, Self Care, Wings, Ladders, Jet Fuel, 2009, So It Goes
Skippables: Small Worlds, Dunno
6. GO:OD AM
Mac Miller had split with his label, Rostrum Records, and signed a major deal with Warner Records, which also included a distributing deal with REMember Music. GO:OD AM is the first album released under Warner. This 17 track album showcases Mac Miller’s talent as a rapper, songwriter, and even as a singer. It features collaborations from Miguel, Ab-Soul, Lil B, Chief Keef, and Little Dragon.
GO:OD AM is album where Mac Miller was in happy place. In February of 2015, he tweeted “This album is the first album I recorded while being happy in a long time”. This was amazing news for fans who, via his music, were well aware of his longstanding struggle with depression. The album doesn’t shy away from those topics though. GO:OD AM features one of Mac’s most eery lyrics that, ironically, foreshadowed his death is a way.
To everyone who sell me drugs
Mac Miller on “Brand Name”
Don’t mix it with that bullsh*t
I’m hoping not to join the twenty seven club
The second half of “Perfect Circle / God Speed” is arguably one of the most emotionally vulnerable songs of Mac Miller’s career. It features an actual voicemail left by Mac Miller’s brother, Miller McCormick, in which he reminds Mac of how much he misses him. This was during some of Mac’s “darker days” as he describes it. In this part of the song Mac details what could happen if he were to continue his drug abuse without getting help.
All in all, GO:OD AM is a amazing Mac Miller project. It is worth revisiting and it still holds up well years after its release.
Top Tracks: Brand Name, Rush Hour, 100 GrandKids, Time Flies, Weekend, Perfect Circle / God Speed, When in Rome, ROS, Cut the Check, Ascension, Jump, The Festival
Skippables: In the Bag, Break the Law
5. Best Day Ever
Best Day Ever is hits on everything that Blue Slide Park does not. It features Mac Miller in his prime of making feel good, party music. It was released as a mixtape and as of early 2019 it has amassed 1.2 million downloads. This mixtape features the song “Donald Trump” which was a huge hit on YouTube with over 160 million views. Actually, “Wear My Hat” is the first Mac Miller song that I ever heard when I saw it featured on WorldStarHipHop in the summer of 2011.
The mixtape features heavy production from ID Labs who has extensively worked with Pittsburgh native Wiz Khalifa as well. Best Day Ever has only 2 credited features (Phonte and Wiz Khalifa). The lack of features doesn’t detract from the album at all. It actually displays Mac Miller’s talent at crafting hooks. Songs like “Get Up”, “Wake Up”, “She Said”, and “Life Ain’t Easy” contain some of the best hooks of Mac’s career.
When I get old I’m a be real cool
Mac Miller on “Life Ain’t Easy”
Sittin’ on the porch with a fresh pair of shoes
Whole bunch of stories for the neighborhood kids
Tell ’em to believe, they be makin’ it big
And I knowwwww
That life is nothing easy (nothing easy)
One day, I’m a change the world
And they’ll finally believe me
This project is ranked properly at #5 on my list. The mixtape feels unapologetically youthful and that is largely what makes it so great. Sonically, Best Day Ever has aged like fine wine and it is still worth listening to regularly.
Top Tracks: Best Day Ever, Get Up, Donald Trump, Wear My Hat, Wake Up, She Said, Life Ain’t Easy
Skippables: Oy Vey, All Around the World, Down the Rabbit Hole
4. Watching Movies with the Sound Off
Upon the first listen of Watching Movies with the Sound Off, it became clear that Mac Miller was making a departure from the sound he had been known for. This project shows his growth and versatility as an artist. I see this as one of the most important moments of his career because it truly showed that Mac Miller was capable of being relevant in music for the long term.
Watching Movies with the Sound Off has memorable features from Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson, Schoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul. One of my favorite moments on the album is the outro by Ab-Soul on “I Am Who I am (Killin’ Time)”. In my opinion, the next song, “Objects in the Mirror” is the best song on the entire album. It is a very relatable song in which Mac Miller pleads with someone to move forward with their relationship rather than letting go.
This project is a great Mac Miller album. It marked a point when Mac Miller gained many new fans and lost some old ones. It is one of the more underrated projects in his catalog as well. Even after at least 200 listens of this album, I still hear something new every time.
Top Tracks: I’m Not Real, S.D.S, I Am Who Am (Killin’ Time), Objects in the Mirror, Red Dot Music, Gees, Watching Movies, Remember, Someone Like You, Aquarium
Skippables: The Star Room, Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes, O.K. (Bonus Track), Goosebumpz (Bonus Track)
3. Faces
Faces in 2014 marks a time when Mac Miller was in his full prime as a rapper. Coming in with 24 songs and just over 85 minutes long, Faces is bars, bars and more bars! Honestly, I feel Mac Miller was one of the greatest rappers alive in 2014 largely because of this project.
I’m the greatest, admit it, I’m the greatest
Mac Miller on “Here We Go”
And I don’t hold a grudge against anybody who hated
I’m underrated, don’t fit on nobody’s playlist
If I ain’t in your top 10 then you’re a racist
Mac Miller (as Larry Fisherman) handles the production for the majority of this mixtape. The production on this album can be described as somber. “Angel Dust” is one of the key standouts of the first half of the mixtape but the best stretch of the project starts at Track 7 with “It Just Doesn’t Matter” which samples the very memorable speech from the 1979 movie “Meatballs”. Track 8, “Therapy” (prod. by ID Labs), is a heavy bass track that ironically, just feels good. I’m sure this is the favorite song for many on the entire project. The first one two collaborations with Earl Sweatshirt takes place on Track 9. On “Polo Jeans”, Earl handles the production and shines with one of the more memorable features on the entire project. Faces also features Schoolboy Q, Sir Michael Rocks, Ab-Soul, Thundercat, Rick Ross, and even Mike Jones….WHO? MIKE JONES! (lol)
To some, Faces might be too long of an album. To me though, it wasn’t too long. Mac Miller had a lot to say on this album. I see this entire album as a journal that Mac used to expressed everything he was going through at the time. He didn’t sugarcoat anything when it came to his struggles with drugs and depression on this album. That is largely what makes this project so great and the 3rd best Mac Miller project.
Top Tracks: Inside Outside, Angel Dust, It Just Doesn’t Matter, Therapy, Polo Jeans, Happy Birthday, Funeral, 55, Colors and Shapes, Insomniak, Uber, New Faces V2
Skippables: What Do You Do, San Francisco, Rain, Apparition, Thumbalina
Listen to the entire Mac Miller’s Faces mixtape here:
2. K.I.D.S.
K.I.D.S. is the 2nd best project of Mac Miller’s entire discography! This mixtape is Mac’s first taste of real commercial success. It has been downloaded over a million times. Songs like “Outside”, “Senior Skip Day”, and “The Spins” served as the perfect soundtrack to high school kids nationwide. The production on K.I.D.S. is memorable as well. Samples exist on almost every song of the mixtape. It features a sample of Nas on “Nikes on My Feet”, Lord Finesse on “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza” and Empire of the Sun on “The Spins”. One of the smoothest tracks of the entire mixtape is “Traffic in the Sky”. On this song Mac delivers one of the better hooks.
I can say my favorite sample on K.I.D.S. comes on “Good Evening”. It samples Drake’s “A Night Off (Feat. Lloyd)” from his So Far Gone mixtape released in 2009. This song is a must listen for all music fans. On “Ride Around” Mac Miller samples classic Rap song “25 Lighters” by DMD who originally sampled classic R&B song “Nite and Day” by Al B. Sure!
Two of my favorite songs come towards the end of the mixtape. “All I Want Is You” is a great song where Mac provides another memorable and catchy hook that easily can get stuck in your head all day. “Face In The Crowd” is the final track of the mixtape. I consider it a hidden gem of the project.
I have truly great memories associated with this album. This project nearly made the #1 slot on my list. All in all, it is a classic mixtape that is full of samples yet still felt so original.
Top Tracks: Outside, Get Em Up, Nikes on My Feet, Senior Skip Day, The Spins, Traffic in the Sky, Don’t Mind If I Do, Good Evening, Ride Around, All I Want Is You, Face in the Crowd
Skippables: Paper Route, Poppy
Listen to K.I.D.S. on SoundCloud here:
1. Macadelic
Macadelic is the best project of Mac Miller’s discography! It is actually the first full album that I heard from Mac Miller. I heard “Lucky A** B***h” in my friends car and as a huge fan of Juicy J I had to go check the entire album out. This is when I became a real fan. Obviously, I had heard his earlier songs, but this is the album that I connect with the most. I see Macadelic as the bridge that took Mac Miller from the party rapper to the more introspective lyricist that he became. I see it as his most cohesive work in that each song seamlessly leads into the next. He does this with strategically places snippets from various other forms of media. Like at the end of “Vitamins” he samples the 2000 movie “Requiem for a Dream” where a woman pleads to someone how her newfound fame is a reason to keep going in life. This audio is continues on the themes of the entire album in which Mac Miller reflects on his life and how far he has come.
This mixtape also has some of the biggest features of his career. It features Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, Juicy J, and Cam’ron. At this time in 2012, Kendrick Lamar was just on the cusp of ascending into superstardom. Lil Wayne, Juicy J, and Cam’ron were (and still are) OG’s in the game. For us fans, it showed how much these rap pioneers respected Mac Miller’s talent. It was really cool to see Mac Miller keep up with Cam’ron on “Ignorant” which features production from Cardo.
The 3 song stretch of “Angels”, “Sunlight” and “Clarity” is my favorite part of the album. “Angels” is actually my favorite Mac Miller song of all time. It is a perfect song to me. On “Sunlight”, Mac Miller takes a step away from the darker, gloomier lyrics and provides a more positive outlook on what is to come for him. The outro, provided by Iman Omari, features one of the more memorable vocal performances on the entire project. “Clarity” is another introspective cut from Mac where he examines clarity, infatuation, and misery.
Macadelic will always be a special project to me. It’s great on so many levels. As of 2018, the album was remastered and added to all streaming services. That version though, had many of the samples removed in order to gain clearance. So, I highly recommend listening via SoundCloud or DatPiff to get the full Macadelic experience.
Top Tracks: Thoughts from a Balcony, Aliens Fighting Robots, Fight the Feeling, Lucky A** B***h, Ignorant, The Question, Angels, Sunlight, Clarity, America, F**k Em All
Skippables: Desperado
Listen to Macadelic on SoundCloud here:
