Mac Miller may not have made it to see the completion of his own work, but his legacy keeps us listening to every piece of his music we can get our hands on. The late Pittsburg-born rapper is highly regarded and loved across so many genres because of the early influences he grabbed onto. Sprinkling bits of classic rock, folk, and funk into the mix, Mac’s style gives everyone something to love and songs that will live forever.
The influences of hip hop moguls like Kanye, Lil Wayne, and OutKast are hard to miss in Mac's music, but by digging a little deeper we find influences that might be a little less expected. With a deep appreciation and love for throwbacks and classics, Mac was able to strengthen his own musical style. Every small influence contributed to Mac's ever-changing sound, from the 2010 album Kids all the way through Circles, which was released after his passing.
Mac’s 90s and 2000s hip hop influences were extremely prominent in his early work, and helped to bring a more elevated sound to his later albums. Influences from Fugees and Lauryn Hill started to arise in The Divine Feminine with songs like “My Favorite Part,” and were carried all the way through Circles in songs like “Blue World.”
Mac was a big fan of using samples from groups completely disassociated with the Hip Hop genre. His song "Everybody" sampled "Everybody's Gotta Live" by 1965 rock-folk bad Love. But samples didn't just come from older music. In 2010 Mac released "Don't Mind If I Do," sampling "Fireflies," a pop song Owl City had released only a year prior. He borrowed from so many different artists and genre's, encouraging his fans to explore and dip into different sounds as he did.
Still, we can go deeper- deeper into the evolution of the music and deeper into Mac’s favorite artists, proving that old music will never die; on the contrary it can be revisited, spun on its head, and recycled to live on forever, along with the artist. Mac pulls feeling from rock roots, and embeds them into his 90s hip hop style, making his sound unique and everlasting.
Portishead
Mac dives head first into trip-hop, influenced by Portishead who didn’t invent the sound but took responsibility for pushing it to the mainstream. Mac said Portishead’s sound “has so many textures.” The dark tones and cool jazz surely hooked Miller.
Prince
Mac Miller called Prince his “idol,” and as we look back on his career the influence plain to see. So many of Mac’s songs have a groove to them, created by prominent synths, funky bass lines, and in his later years, light electric guitar licks.
Hear the influence in: Dang!, What’s the Use, Ladders
Radiohead
One of Mac’s favorite albums was Radiohead’s In Rainbows, because it’s “alive...it like exists.” In Rainbows has listeners totally absorbed in the the listening experience, much of the time coming from the music's baselines. You can hear Mac’s love for this style of music as early as in Watching Movies with the Sound Off from 2013.
Hear the influence in: Objects in the Mirror, Wings, Doors
Bob Dylan
“I really love Bob Dylan,” said Miller. “I saw Dylan perform live one time. Front row. In Pittsburgh. General admission. I was like 10 or 12 and I just pushed my way up to the front by myself…” We can see the pattern of Mac’s most poetic lyrics coming out in his most lengthy and simple songs, focusing on world issues, self-improvement, and reflection. Mac is constantly searching for the truth, like Dylan.
Hear the influence in: The Question, 2009
The Beatles
It was no secret that Mac had a John Lennon obsession. He even displayed it with a Lennon tattoo on his arm. “I love what they represent. I love all the shit when they started getting really weird," said Mac. "I'm a huge Beatles fan.... [how you got into the Beatles] is like asking, 'How did you get into Jesus?'” Mac’s Beatle influences come out in his background harmonies, experimentation, chord progressions, and even direct samples.
Hear the influence in: Everybody, Complicated, Loud (mixtape version)
What made Mac a true artist was his ability to learn and grow from artists before him. He was able to evolve his sound and his fan base, by shifting what he loved listening to into what he created.