“So I’m fucked up in Europe one day, and I drunk-dialled Rick Rubin”, Mac Miller told Grantland last month, speaking about the circumstances that lead to him holing up in the super-producer’s Malibu based haven.
“I was like, ‘Rick, dude, I’m fucked up, will you help me?’”.
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In the piece, Miller talks about how, over the past two or three years, he “was just numb”. How he became a hermit in his search for new material, at one point recording nine albums worth of material. And how, after discovering he was saved under the name “hero” in an intern’s phonebook, he cried. That last moment is when the more serious and private evaluation that lead to Miller detoxing over at Rick Rubin’s began. While there, he would “just sit and play the keyboard. Before then, I never really played music unless I was recording it”. Miller says he was crying everyday.
Since then he’s moved to New York, signed a deal with Warner, and is about to release his third studio album, called GO:OD AM – which conveniently, is streaming in full below. We’ve only listened to it a couple times this morning, but it’s clear already that the personal growth that took place over the past few years can be heard across the record. Miller’s making music again, but this time it’s with a fresh-mind. Guest verses come from Chief Keef, Miguel, Ab Soul, and Lil B. Listen below.