Early Stages of Rap Career

Mac was a normal happy kid that was interested in sports and could be seen at all the high school parties. He was very popular in high school because of his positive outlook. At the young age of 15, he focused on starting a hip hop career and it changed his life completely.  He was a self-taught musician and enjoyed playing the drums, guitar, piano and bass.

Before Mac started rapping, he wanted to be a singer and write songs about his life. He decided to become a rapper because of the feedback he got during high school. During a freestyle circle, Mac got the courage to join in. He rapped and was applauded by his peers. He got addicted to the attention that his rapping skills brought him. He became a popular student because his classmates saw him as the cool white kid that could rap and hold his own in the hip hop arena.

Prior to changing his name to Mac Miller, he was called “EZ Mac”. In 2007 he released a mixtape called But My Mackin’ Ain’t Easy. He joined the rap group The Ill Spoken. Together, they released mixtape called How High in 2008. Being in a group gave Mac much needed experience but he started to realize that he was good enough to carve his own path. He decided to go solo and leave his crew.

At the age of 17, Miller released two hip hop mixtapes. One mixtape was called The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and the other mixtape was called The High Life. By the time he released his solo mixtapes, he was well into the world of music and starting to create a buzz around himself. The hype about his music allowed him to sign a record deal with Rostrum Records. From the moment he signed his first record deal, it was a steady upward climb for Mac’s career. In 2010, Mac embarked on his first tour. He called the tour, The Most Dope Tour to reflect his lifestyle. Most of Mac’s music was about his love for cannabis. He did not shy away from naming his songs and records with cannabis related names. He loved to take photos of him smoking weed because he wanted to connect with his fans. He wasn’t making music for a large audience, he was making music for his hardcore fans who loved to smoke weed and live a positive high life. Mac’s tour sold out in every location. The financial success proved that Mac had found his formula. He enlisted the help of producers that could make stoner friendly beats while he rapped about getting high.

Mac won two Pittsburgh hip hop awards the same year he went on his first tour. He successfully used social media as a free marketing tactic to hype his music. His fans on social media helped him out by sharing his images and music with their friends. Mac blew up at a time when cannabis was becoming more socially acceptable. It was no longer seen as a drug that was only used by losers and anti conformists. In Mac’s music videos, he had beautiful girls smoking weed while having a great time.