Many of today's new school MC's, through the mixtape game, were able to gain popularity in a very quick amount of time. But it was very surprising to see how quickly Mac Miller became popular. Once he dropped his 2011 mixtape Best Day Ever (my favorite project from him) and released that single "Donald Trump" he instantly developed a huge fan base. Mostly among the partying college kids and stoners. Later that year he released his debut album Blue Slide Park. It would go on to become the first independent rap album in history to go gold in the first week. Not bad for a white boy from the suburbs of Pittsburgh. With an accomplishment like that you just knew more attention would come his way. Thus the anticipation for Watching Movies With The Sound Off. His sophomore album. Now while others were greatly anticipating this a part of me was a little worried. Last year he released his seventh mixtape Macadelic in which he totally changed his sound to nothing but bass banging trap beats. I really didn't enjoy that tape at all and it had me worrying that he would continue with that sound on this album. Well thankfully, he didn't. He went back to the sound that he displayed on his debut but just expanded it more. I thought the album overall was pretty good. Like I said he went back to his original sound before the Macadelic mixtape. However there is a bit of a difference present. The overall sound of it to me defines "stoner music". Majority of the album (the first half of it to be specific) has this very mellow, calm, psychedelic (and somewhat depressing) sound to it. The type of sound again that a stoner would love. I don't even smoke and I felt high listening to it. Mac Miller already has a laid back monotone voice to begin with so that mixed with these kind of beats produces that sound. Although it wasn't too mellow to the point where the album bores you because the content of some of these songs keeps you up and paying attention. Well now here's some of my highlights from this album. My stand out track for me would have to be "Red Dot Music". One thing I noticed about this album is the impressive list of guest features. Might be the best line up of collaborators I've seen so far this year. This track features Action Bronson, who drops a dope verse, and is well produced by The Alchemist. The track kind of blends Mac's original sound with a bit of 90's boom bap. In fact it was when this song started that the album's sound started to change. The end of this track is very dope as Loaded Lux spits an acappella verse that almost sounds like spoken word poetry. Mad dope. "Watching Movies" was the only song on here that sounded like the songs that were on Macadelic but this wasn't that bad. It was tolerable. The extensively titled "Suplexes Inside Of Complexes And Duplexes" was the most unique song to me. It has this eerie and mellow beat with soft pattern 808 drums. Jay Electronica drops a dope lyrical verse and may have out shined Mac on his on track. The electric flows on "Gees" was cool. Mac Miller mellows it out while Schoolboy Q comes in with his brash persona and livens it up more. Like I mentioned there's so many "stonerific" songs and the one that stood out the most to me was "Remember". It literally sounds like he was laid back in a lounge chair while high and decided to rap. But it's a cool song. Things get quite hilarious as he teams up with Tyler, The Creator on "O.K.". The two spit funny lyrics about females. Mac name drops a few industry chicks he'd like to have to himself and Tyler was well, Tyler. "Matches" sounded like it would've fit well with either Blue Slide Park or Best Day Ever. It mixes a mainstream sound with Mac's laid back sound. Ab-Soul had good-but-not-great verse on there too. It may sound funny, but "Aquarium" just sounds like the suburbs. It sounds so smooth and relaxed. Sounds like a stroll though the park or something. It's pretty cool. Well now some of my low lights. There are some rappers that should never, ever, attempt singing. Mac is one of those rappers. "Objects In The Mirror" was the first and he just sounds so weird. I think on that beat he could have rapped and still got the point across because the singing, or lack there of takes away from it. The second, and worse one was "Youforia" when he is actually trying to attempt hitting high notes. No. This may have been the worst song on the whole album. Like is he trying to take the Drake route or what? Just terrible. "I'm Not Real" wasn't bad but it was disappointing. I was hoping Earl Sweatshirt was gonna spit some lyrics only to find out he's only on the hook. The song was cool but it needed more of Earl then what it got. Perhaps Mac chose to put Earl on the hook only because he didn't want to risk the chance of Earl lyrically destroying him on his own song. I don't know. "Goosebumpz" had the most strangest and bizarre beat on the whole album. It really doesn't fit with Mac's sound, voice or flow. Thankfully it's only a deluxe edition bonus track because it really needed to be left off of the album. Or need another beat I don't know. Overall, I don't see a sophomore slump here. The album for the most part was pretty good. I give it a final grade of a B-. I still have to place Best Day Ever as my favorite project from him. I understand Mac Miller tries to experiment with different sounds but there's just some rappers that need to stick with what they do best. What Mac Miller does best is the white boy/stoner/college kid music. I like him as a artist and I think he will be around for a while. Gold in the first week was a big time accomplishment for him. What will happen this time around? Let's just watch. End.
Final Grade: B-
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