Talk about not being topical; CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy calls this edition biographically-chronologically new music, like in High Fidelity. Basically, I recently watched the Mac Miller Tiny Desk NPR video and it’s better than referencing international diplomacy.
Mac Miller – “Donald Trump”
The first of the Mac-tunes to make it out of the lab, and the last of this trove that I laid ears on, since I somehow never came across it in high school when it came out. Is it ironic, post-modern, or just prescient? Pretty catchy regardless, turns out.
Mac Miller – “Small Worlds”
“I’m building up a wall ‘til it break. …I don’t wanna keep you waitin’.” Echos of so many before and sure to be since — creative and visionary geniuses guarding their inner turmoil, whether to protect their own perfectionist, shamefully self-reflective egos, or to protect their fans’ and lovers’ instead.
Mac Miller – “What’s the Use?”
“We colder than the breeze / but the breeze ain’t flowin’ like me, mf, hol’ up / You don’t need to hol’ up, yeah / And I can show you how I seem, what it is, what it truly might be.” Hold up. What on Earth?! Thundercat’s nimble fingers and Mac’s flow… *mopping the drool*
Mac Miller – “2009”
I’ll never know what it felt like to see or hear this song or this performance both before and after Miller’s passing, since I’ve only discovered it well after that time, but the anti-nostalgia of this chorus under the strings and sadness of his life’s story from here is heartbreaking.
