Mac Miller: Ambassador Of Youth Part 1

Mac Miller isn’t old enough to legally drink in America, but that hasn’t stopped the 19-year-old from intoxicating listeners on the punchlines he spits. The Taylor Allderice High 2010 graduate happens to be on Rostrum Records, which released his K.I.D.S. (Kickin’ Incredibly Dope Shit) mixtape to the sweet tune of 100,000 downloads. The Well Versed caught up with Pittsburgh’s other get high guy (Wiz Khalifa being the other emcee who reps the “Black & Yellow”) while he was cruising through New York during a “great time to be a Steelers fan” to get his thoughts on pot, positivity and persona.

The Well Versed: How are you staying busy?

Mac Miller: Constant on the road, constant music making.

TWV: You’re all over Twitter. What does social media mean to your career? What’s the meanest thing someone’s ever said to you on Twitter?

MM: Social media is just like a great way to let your fans know who you are behind the music. It’s a better way for them to understand what you’re saying when they know who is saying it. It’s one thing to just have a bunch of music and it’s another thing to have a bunch of music and then a personality to back up whatever it is that you’re talking about. That way like everything is clear and you can relate to it more. It’s a great outlet to create your character and show people who you are.

I think the meanest thing people will say is anti-Semitic and stuff like that. People will just say anything to get a response. That’s what everyone wants, to get you to respond to them and see them. I don’t really pay attention to it.

TWV: Haters aside, do you feel that’s a big part of your success, that people relate to you and want party with you?

MM: I think a big part of it is being a real open person about myself. Me as a regular person, I feel that I’m kind of a character. Using Twitter and videos and social media outlets has made it very easy to show people my personality.

TWV: When did you realize hip-hop was going to be the genre that captivated you?

MM: I think freshmen year of high school was when I decided hip-hop was the genre that I was gonna go head on with and really build and get into. I have been doing all different types of music since an early age, but when I got into high school, it was just rap all the time.

TWV: Who was instrumental in showing you what hip-hop could be?

MM: When I first started writing, when I started writing seriously, Big L was the main person for me that I was listening to all the time.

TWV: You make 420-friendly music. Do you believe we’re past the days of keeping Cypress Hill off radio or there’s simply more options like the internet to get it?

MM: I smoke weed. That’s not the thing about me. I’m not really the weed guy. I smoke a lot of weed and everything, but I’m more just the regular kid talking about smoking weed because I smoke weed. I just talk about my everyday life, so if I’m smoking a lot of weed, then that’s what I’m gonna talk about. I think people like Cypress Hill and all your old school weed music is still, can still be relevant right now because everyone likes to smoke weed. It’s not really as frowned upon by parents anymore. No parents really care about some weed anymore, at least not parents that I know. I think that plays a big role is that weed is slowly but surely being accepted, not by just kids. I think you’ll hear a lot more weed references in music.

TWV: Do you think you’re breaking the mold and being a successful stoner especially at your age?

MM: I do a lot of chill, high music, but there’s a lot of party type music and serious songs with messages and stuff like that too. I’m all about showing you can bring different sides. There are people that are high all the time and there are people who aren’t high all the time and there’s all different sides to life in general. I’m just trying to do my best to cover all sides.

TWV: As someone who found music at the pro level in high school, what do you think about music in schools?

MM: When I was in high school making music, I was real serious about it, but you can’t really travel when you’re in class every day of the week. It gave it a different look. It was all about chilling and making music when I was in high school, that’s like all it was. There was no other factors into it. That’s what it was: music making, but now there’s so much more that gets brought into the process. Everything from travel and going to music studios in New York and different cities, connecting with people and working together and having crazy ass experiences that you would never have in everyday life that you can bring into your music. It’s a different state of mind when you’re out on the road that brings music to the next level.

I think music programs in school are really important. I think one thing that should be done…I remember going to music class, there were kids that were interested in it and kids that thought it was a joke. What I plan to do at some point is open some community center, where its not necessarily like a school, but its a place where kids who are really interested in it can come and be around kids who are really interested in the process of writing and creating.

Kids, when you’re in high school or middle school, a lot of things are about, ‘Is it cool for me to do this?’ In music class, when your weird music teacher tells you to sing, ‘Bumblebee, bumble bee, bumble beeeee,’ with a piano, no one wants to sing because they don’t want to look weird. But if they had an after school program where kids who are interested can be around other kids who interested, I think that’s a real important thing. Music is an important thing in everyone’s life however you use it—if you’re a listener, if you’re someone who makes it, or if you just appreciate it. It’s something everyone can be a part of and use in their own way.

TWV: It’s a pretty rough time economically among other reasons. Do you feel your feel-good music is in the right time, right place?

MM: Right place, right time, I’d say that as of right now, yes. I’m not gonna say that if the economy was great and everyone was already happy…I would hope that my music would still be great because I think it would. I think there’s a whole movement right now with a lot of artists right now that represents positivity and that’s really the key thing. In this huge movement and change of music, is just to bring people together because positive music has brought all kinds of different people together just enjoying good times.

When you have a show and you see people of all ages, genders, different races, different backgrounds and everything all coming to just enjoy music that’s about being happy, about having something to smile [about], that says a lot I feel like. For people in general, it’s a positive movement.

Danny Acosta is the lead writer at FIGHT! Magazine. Contact him on twitter.com/acostaislegend
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