There is no doubt that popular music in today’s world is full of surface level lyrics that struggle to find deeper meaning within itself. The popular culture that surrounds today’s top hits seem to have no sense of what it’s trying to say. And for the most part that’s okay since most of these artists and their labels are just trying make money. A certain name has been flooding mainstream hip-hop due to his premature departure from our world. This legendary soul goes by the name Mac Miller. Mac has been in the rap game since he was the tender age of fourteen. He released his first project at the age of fifteen. He has made a name for himself with albums like Blue Slide Park, GO:OD AM, The Devine Feminine and Swimming. His style of music ranges from smooth R&B love ballads with The Devine Feminine, to loud hype filled bangers like those in GO:OD AM. Mac Miller was as young man with an old soul, who felt his purpose was to release music from the heart, providing his fans with a feelings of comradery, love and passion.
Mac’s music isn’t just feel good tunes that you can jam to anytime. Some of his songs and albums focus on personal issues of his life like love and can’t be listened to on a surface level. His music is deep and full of passion. He had, and arguably, still has a huge following and was adored by his music industry colleagues and fans. So much so, on Halloween night of this year, Miller’s family and 4 Strikes Management held a concert in honor of his life. This show was called “Mac Miller: A Celebration of Life”. The show wasn’t only held to honor the memory of the late rapper, but to also launch the Mac Miller Circles Fund. The MMCF is an organization that provides programming, resources and opportunities for underprivileged youth to help give them a chance to access their true potential. This event was filled with America’s most popular artists in the industry who all seemed to have a personal connection to Mac and his family. Some of the big names who performed in his honor were Action Bronson, Anderson .Paak, Chance The Rapper, John Mayer, Miguel, and Vince Staples along with many other celebrity artists and personal. The lineup itself shows how many people Miller impacted throughout his life. Mac Miller has been an important artist in my personal life too. His lyrics have provided a safe place to think and evaluate what’s truly important in life. There is a special place in my heart, along with many other fans, for Mac and his music.
One of my most beloved songs of his is “Dang!” off The Devine Feminine album. Anderson .Paak is featured on this song, and I believe he is the perfect fit for what this song is trying to portray. This song is Paak and Miller’s take on what seems to be a relationship on the verge of ending. The music video opens up an extremely bright color pallet, with the opening lyrics, “I can’t keep on losing you, over complications. Gone too soon, wait, we was just hangin’…” These few lines set the rest of the song up, providing the information that our main characters are battling to save their relationships. The bright colors throughout this music video seem to mask the underlying meaning behind the lyrics. When you see all these bright colors along with a high tempo beat, it provides a false sense of what the song is really about. It is a story that starts out with the female interest packing up and leaving. Something that most men around Miller’s age have dealt with I’m sure. Breakups are never easy, and his up and down relationship in the real world with Ariana Grande really impacted his writings. He wrote this album with Grande in mind. They were dating at the time. The overarching ideology is heavily influenced by love and his personal relationships.
Most artists, especially rappers, tend to write lyrics that on a surface level just seem to only be there because it makes a rhyme, but with someone like Mac Miller these lines give off deeper meanings. One of the most repeated lines throughout this song is “I can’t keep on losing you”. This simple five-word section is the center of this song. He simply feels he is losing his love due to certain acts he may have done throughout their relationship. The song continues from chorus going into the first verse. The first line is, “how many mistakes do it take ‘til you leave, when I’m left with my hand on my face all red, and a looking at you like (wait)”. This simple few lines tell us that he has made mistakes. What mistakes? We don’t know but we can infer that they may have something to do with his drug usage. That inference can be justified since Mac’s personal life was so public, and his death had direct correlation with drugs. The second line of the song has a word in it that sticks out to me more than any others. “I can’t keep on losing you, over complications”. ‘Complications’; what could Mac Miller mean when he says this. A complication can mean a number of different things. Miller has been known for his somewhat reckless drug usage before and throughout his career. He’s mentioned in past interviews about his use of cocaine, prescription cough syrup and even angel dust. This song “Dang!” centers around the fact that Mac is struggling to keep this woman in his life, despite whatever complications he is having. I believe the deeper meaning behind these lyrics is dark. A lot darker than the music video suggests. Miller is rapping about how he has his issues, but wants to overcome them because he knows it is driving his loved ones away. He exaggerates this by repeating the lines, “I can’t keep on losing you” in the chorus. Towards the end of the song he says, “I guess I need to hold onto, dang, the people that know me best, the key that I won’t forget”. He is telling us, below the surface, that no matter what ‘complications’ you are dealing with you need to keep the people that you care about you close. In the case of this song, those people are his love interests. Deep down he knows he can’t overcome his obstacles alone, and is doing his absolute best to keep this woman around. He’s showing us his life’s ideology, love. Loving the people close to you is what is going to keep you going.
This song is about more than just ‘chasing the girl’. It is almost a cry for help. A cry for help disguised with extremely bright colors, an upbeat tempo and catchy lyrics. The perfect recipe for a song to catch on in mainstream media. Most of its listeners aren’t listening to the song deep enough unfortunately. I believe this song has an overarching presence of sadness and self-loathing. With dark lines like, “Heartache drunk and hang up, what a mess I made us, sense, I make none, it’s complicated, keeping me up late, can’t concentrate, you’re always on my brain, if it’s love then why the fuck you complain?” Within these few lines, you can sense the dark overtone. These are intense lyrics masked by the pop-like beat that invokes and happy impression. Miller is lashing out behind these lyrics. He is putting the blame on the love interest in the video. A classic exploit when one cannot come to terms with the idea that it may be them causing the problems.
Mac Miller wore his heart on his sleeve. Showing his true colors behind his songs. His range of music is vast, from love ballads to all out bangers. With each of his songs, he gives a little bit of himself. He pours his soul into each beat and each lyric. I believe his ideology behind all of his music is the idea that everyone needs to be loved in order to love back. He’s told us time and time again, within the confines of his songs, that being alone is never the option. You have to be true to oneself before you can be true to others. And just like one of the lines in “Dang!” Mac Miller himself has “gone too soon”.