| Mac Miller | |
|---|---|
Mac Miller performing at the Governor's Ball in 2011. |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Malcolm McCormick |
| Also known as | Most Dope, Easy Mac |
| Born | January 19, 1992 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Genres | Hip hop, pop, electro hop, comedy |
| Occupations | Rapper, producer, actor, songwriter |
| Years active | 2007 – present |
| Labels | Rostrum Records |
| Associated acts | Donelo, Wiz Khalifa, Beedie, The Ill Spoken, I.D. Labs |
| Website | www.macmillerofficial.com |
Malcolm McCormick (born January 19, 1992),[1] 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.[2]
Contents |
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, Pennsylvania.[1][3] His father is Christian and his mother is Jewish; Miller was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah.[4][5][6] Before attending Taylor Allderdice High School, Miller attended Winchester Thurston School.[7] 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."[1] Miller, also a self-taught musician at the age of 6, plays piano, guitar, drums, and bass.[1][8]
Before embarking on a solo career, Miller was part of rap group The Ill Spoken together with fellow Pittsburgh rapper, Beedie. 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.[9] 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.[10] 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."[10] 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.[10] K.I.D.S. was released by the label in August 2010.[1] 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.[10]
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.[11]
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.[12] 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.[13]
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.[14]
In 2009 at age 17, he made it to the final four in Rhyme Calisthenics, the MC competition at Shadow Lounge.[15] In 2010, he won two awards at the Pittsburgh hip-hop awards.[16] 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".[17] In 2011 Miller was one of eleven rappers featured in XXL magazine's Freshman Class of 2011.[18] The video for the first single released from this mixtape, "Donald Trump", has reached over 27 million views on YouTube[19] 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.”[20] 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,[21] 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.[22]
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.[23] He gained the support of over 1.2 million Twitter followers and over 1.5 million "likes" on Facebook.[23] 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.[24] "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."[25]
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."[18]
Mac Miller includes Big L, Lauryn Hill, The Beastie Boys, Outkast, and A Tribe Called Quest among his influences.[8] 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."[26]
|
||||||||||||||||||||