The one word to describe Mac Miller who seemingly blew up out of nowhere this past year. After being honored by XXL Magazine as one of their 2011 Freshmen, Mac Miller's buzz soared around the globe.
Having a loyal fan base due to his penchant for social networking, Mac Miller will release his debut studio album “Blue Slide Park” on November 8th 2011.
For fans of Mac Miller, “Blue Slide Park” will be an enjoyable album as Mac continues to create the feel good hip-hop music you have come to love from him. The record is filled with lyrics of partying, smoking weed, fucking fly bitches and just overall having fun and it is something you can not hate on Mac Miller for doing.
Miller's flow is great throughout the album, as he really has developed his own style and has a good level of breath control which allows him to ride smoothly over every beat. His lyrics are nothing spectacular and there is definitely room for improvement as it is not uncommon to hear lines such as on the title track “Blue Slide Park” where Mac rhymes “trying to go bananas like Donkey Kong.”
For the most part, the lyrics are really simple and there is nothing earth shattering to the point you have to rewind a song just to hear what Mac Miller has said. A majority of the songs are just basic raps and only on “Diamonds And Gold” does Mac Miller even remotely try a concept song about a social issue, and to be honest it is no where as complex as J.Cole's “Daddy's Little Girl” despite the similar idea.
Unfortunately, this drags the album down in my opinion since most of the songs sound too similar and barely distinguish themselves from the rest of the bunch. In fact, I'm confused as to why Mac Miller did not try and reach out to some top level producers for his debut record since he has worked with 9th Wonder, Chuck Inglish, and even Just Blaze in the past for his mixtape “Best Day Ever.”
Different producers would have really helped Mac Miller as the album could definitely have used some diverse sounds. However, since it does not, “Blue Slide Park” has a mixtape like vibe which is not what I was expecting for a debut studio album.
On a positive note, Mac Miller goes completely solo on “Blue Slide Park” and does not enlist any features. I found this to be refreshing, since now a days, a trending topic seems to be that every new hip-hop artist needs at least a minimum of one co-sign on their records. Whether it was Drake with his insane amount of guests on “Thank Me Later”, J.Cole with Missy Elliot and Jay-Z on “Cole World:The Sideline Story” or Wiz Khalifa with Too-Short on “Rolling Papers”, every new debuting artist this year has had a superstar feature to get them added recognition. The fact that Mac Miller has no one on “Blue
Slide Park” is something that I applaud him for and hope that more artists follow in the future.
I believe longtime fans who appreciate what Mac Miller does for hip-hop will very much like “Blue Slide Park.” However, those who have not jumped aboard the Mac Miller bandwagon or just find him to be corny will most likely stay away from this album, since it does nothing to convert nonbelievers into fans.
While the album does have some nice songs like “Party On 5th Ave.” which I believe could be a hit and “Smile Back”, the album also has songs which plain out suck like “Under The Weather” and “Loitering.”
Overall, “Blue Slide Park” is a decent album. It is an extremely easy listen, since there is nothing complicated on it what so ever, and is a record you could throw on just to relax and have a good time chilling out too. Sadly, the dismal production really hurts the replay value for me and is not an album I see myself listening to much in the future.
Ranked on the Beavis and Butt-Head Scale:
2 Beavis' out of 5 Butt-Heads
Songs I Recommend:
PA Nights, Party On 5th Ave., Frick Park Market, Smile Back, Up All Night
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