Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, 18, debuts recording, signs with label
Mac Miller paces in front of Timebomb, a clothing store and hip-hop hangout in Shadyside. He's clad in a white T-shirt, low-slung jeans and Nike shoes. Tattoos cover his arms, which gesture wildly as he fields questions on the phone.
Unlike most 18-year-olds who just graduated from high school, he isn't talking to a friend about plans for a summer night -- he's talking to a journalist from a hip-hop magazine in Germany.
"Those guys were kind of hard to understand," he says as he gets off the phone.
Mac Miller, whose real name is Malcolm McCormick, isn't like most teens: his third hip-hop mixtape CD, "K.I.D.S.," will be released Friday, and he was recently signed to the Pittsburgh record label Rostrum Records, the same label that propelled fellow Pittsburgh rapper and Taylor Allderdice grad Wiz Khalifa to fame.
Miller, who plays piano and guitar, started rapping for fun when he was 9 years old, and starting working on the hobby more seriously before he started at Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill his junior year.
"When I was 14, I would sit down and freestyle for hours and hours," says Miller, who lives in Point Breeze with his family. "The first time I recorded was in my friend's attic on a computer microphone."
He began recording songs on his computer at home and selling CDs at school. He loved the whole process, he says.
He began gaining exposure around Pittsburgh by performing at small bars, which he says wouldn't have been possible in a bigger city.
"In Pittsburgh, everybody gets a chance," he says. "If you're in New York, they might tell you, maybe could audition to open for an opening act."
After Miller released two more mixtapes in 2009, he realized rapping wasn't just hobby anymore.
At first, his parents didn't see his rapping as a career choice, but soon began to see his talent and support him, especially this past year.
"At first, my mom didn't take it seriously, but now she calls me with ideas for my album cover," Miller says.
As he started to work on the mixtape CD "K.I.D.S.," recording songs like "Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza," "Don't Mind If I Do," and "Good Evening," at idLabs studio in Lawrenceville, he continually kept in contact with Benjy Grinberg and Arthur Pitt of Rostrum Records, who helped oversee production. On July 21, he was signed to the label, and will record an album this year.
"We're really excited to be working with Mac," says Grinberg, 32, president of Rostrum Records. "He's a great rapper and talented musically, and we hope to bring out the depth of his talent with the next few projects. The 'K.I.D.S.' project is incredible; it's going to be one of the best mixtapes to come out of Pittsburgh."
Miller has a strong presence on the Internet, which his manager, Point Park University student Quentin Cuff, 20, says has helped him a lot with his success. He has 8,413 followers on Twitter, and he performs live on uStream, a website where artists can stream live performances. Also, his YouTube account of music videos directed by local filmmaker Ian Wolfson has reached more than 1.4 million views.
Numerous websites, including XXLMag.com , soulbounce.com and worldstarhiphop.com , have dubbed him someone to watch in hip-hop.
Brian Brick, owner of Timebomb, predicts that Miller will just keep getting bigger.
"He's about to take on a way bigger demographic," Brick says. "He is a ball of energy, and he's got flow."
Miller is riding his first initial waves of fame, enjoying every moment of it and still in shock of his growing popularity.
"I have dedicated fans, which is crazy to me every day. I can't believe I have articles in magazines that I am a fan of, and that I read," he says. "I feel like I started rapping, went to sleep, and woke up signed. Everything's happened so fast."
Additional Information:
Details
Mac Miller's mixtape CD 'K.I.D.S.' is available at Timebomb, 200 S. Highland St., Shadyside. Download his music at listentomac.com , and see videos at TreeJtv.com .
