Why Mac Miller's posthumous album stands the test of time

Mac Miller was one of the most popular artists of the 2010s, but he tragically died from an accidental drug overdose in 2018 at age 26. A previously unreleased album he made in 2014, Balloonerism, recently just came out. 

Today on Commotion, Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with culture writer Reanna Cruz and rapper and author Rollie Pemberton, a.k.a. Cadence Weapon, about Miller's posthumous album and legacy. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including the panel's thoughts on the Oscar nominations and the new film, One of Them Days, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Reanna, remind us why Mac Miller was such an important figure to his generation. 

Reanna: I love Mac Miller. Nobody can resist a jazzy R&B, introspective hip-hop song with incredible production. He always looked at his music from the lens of a singer-songwriter. Even when he was making frat rap in his early days of his career, he always had a very universal look at the way he approached his music. And he is one of the very few people that seamlessly made that transition from doing songs like Donald Trump to what he ends up doing on [his 2018 album] Swimming, this large, grandiose, piano-heavy, very introspective work. And I think he resonates because his music is designed to stand the test of time. I think he's one of the most impactful artists from his generation. We don't really see many people cribbing his style yet, it's very, very singular. And all of his work really stands as a very unique body of records. I don't see many people doing what he's doing, still, today. 

Elamin: Yeah. Nobody has tried to copy that sound. 

I think there is a good reason to be a bit skeptical about a posthumous artist release. In a lot of cases, it's record companies trying to go into the vault and be like, "Well, what do we have here? What can we transform into something larger?" But sometimes it's trying to pass off unfinished tracks as legitimate work, and that feels a little bit difficult. But this is where maybe Balloonerism is a bit different because it was done, it was something that Mac Miller felt like, "This is cooked, this is ready, we can present it to the world," and then he held it back. So, Rollie, what makes this a unique entry to Mac Miller's entire catalog? 

Rollie: The thing about this record, it really does have a legendary history among Mac Miller fans. It was made around the same time as Faces, which was considered one of his best mixtapes. And it's been hinted [at] and rumored about for a while, and there were even some leaks in 2020. Then to see it come out and as a fully formed album, people are really stoked about it. 

And I just want to give a shout out to the Mac Miller estate, which I think it's his mom [who] is involved with putting out the records, but they really are doing him justice. Everything that's come out since he passed away has been treated with so much care and a high standard of quality and it really honours his legacy. And I got to say, his death was so tragic — so tragic —  especially because he had just put out Swimming, which to me is one of the masterpieces of rap in the last decade, and it's really sad that he wasn't here to really benefit from the success of that. 

But it's amazing that we have such a great piece of music that really wasn't heard before that just tells more of what a complete artist he was. He produced a lot of this record under the alias Larry Fisherman [his production alter ego]. He's working with his close friend, Thundercat. And you've got these amazing jazzy backdrops. Like, it's not just hip-hop, it's very psychedelic. And unfortunately, it's very foretelling of his death. He's rapping a lot about doing drugs and talking about how he thinks he's going to die soon. So it's definitely a haunting listen. 

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.