Mac Miller has had a pretty big year. The rapper went head to head with J. Cole and Kanye West on June 18th, and still managed to sell over 100k first week. His album marked a distinct but natural change in sound from his earlier work, and the producer/emcee spoke about the process behind some of the songs and videos for the project with HardKnockTV.
Miller explained the process for one of the album's highlights, the Pharrell-assisted "Objects In The Mirror". "Me and P were working on Pink Slime," Mac said of the origin of the track, revealing that after the "aggressive" sound of songs like "On A Roll," he wanted to do something a little more low-key with Skateboard P. "Can you please just play me some nice jazz chords bro," he recalls saying to Pharrell, who apparently banged out the instrumental in one sitting. "He sat down made that beat in like 20 minutes and went home," said Mac, "and I stayed there all night and made the record."
"I really like to sing." Miller said of his vocal performance on the song. "I don't think I'm a 'good singer,' but I don't think it really matters."
On summoning the elusive Jay Electronica for the record, Mac revealed that it was a fairly casual arrangement. "We just talked, and I was like 'you wanna do a record?' And he did it." he said.
Mac then expressed admiration for the fact that despite the high expectations set for him, Jay still does whatever he feels like. "Out of everything people wanted to hear Jay Electronica talk about... the fact that he just discussed all the female characters in the wizard of Oz is fucking gold." he said.
On the religious imagery in his recent "Watching Movies" video, Miller revealed that he finds it fun to provoke people. "I love fucking with people with religion because people get so serious about it." he said, also crediting the thrill of doing unholy acts in a church as a factor for the concept. "I just wanted to turn up in a church. I think having bitches twerking in a church was fucking glorious!”
Watch the full interview below.
