“Faces” by Mac Miller

One of my current listens is “Faces” by Mac Miller. It’s a mixtape of his back from 2014, and it hasn’t been released on streaming services until earlier this month. I just recently got into Mac over quarantine, and I wish I had gotten into his discography sooner. I love the overall vibe with his music, and I like he’s able to make himself vulnerable in his work, as he speaks about his battle with depression and substance abuse. Faces goes into Mac’s struggle with drug addiction, and while I personally don’t deal with addiction, his lyrics in this mixtape are still impactful and chilling knowing what happens.

One of my favorite songs in the mixtape is titled “Funeral”. This song specifically goes into Mac’s struggle with fame, and how it never really made his problems go away, it just made things worse for him, leaving him to become more depressed. However, the chorus that is repeated in this track says “Party like it’s the last day of your life” meaning to live your life to the fullest, tomorrow isn’t promised, so make every day count like it’s your last, which I found to be very uplifting for a song that’s so dark.

What I  love about this mixtape, is how experimental it is, Mac uses a lot of jazzy and psychedelic instrumentals and beat to accompany the heavy lyrical content, and It’s just amazing. This is probably now my favorite project by him and I’m glad I got to go in completely blind listening to it. For those that don’t know Mac passed away back in 2018 due to an accidental overdose, and most of his projects have already been released post his death whether through streams or unofficially by leakers. I feel like if he were still alive today, we would have gotten many more works like Faces in his discography, and it shows in his final studio album, “Circles”, that was released 2 years after his death in 2020. Rest in Peace Mac.

“Whole Lotta Red” by Playboy Carti

 While he’s very controversial in the rap scene on the quality of his music, I really enjoy Playboy Carti’s work and he’s one of my favorite artists. His second studio album “Whole Lotta Red” is very controversial, as most fans hated it when it dropped back in December of last year. I remember listening to it, and I thought it was just okay, but not as good as his first album (still prefer his first album). But over time, with multiple listens, I think this album is good and isn’t as bad as some fans believe. It grew on me, and I like the direction Carti took with this album. Carti is infamous for using an “infant” or childish voice in most of his raps, but in this album, he uses a very raspy one and it fits the album perfectly. The album has punk and gothic vibe to it, making it feel like a trap album mixed with punk rock, and I love it. While I don’t feel carti is a great lyrcist, I like how he is able to use his voice to go hand and hand with the beats, and I think it’s just great music to get hype too, especially at concerts.

My favorite track on WLR is “On That Time”. Honestly, there isn’t much to the lyrics and much of it is heavily repeated verses and adlibs, like what carti typically does, but the beat on this track is so addictive. It feels like something out of horror movie or video game, its heavily bass boosted, and carti’s voice flows so well on it, it’s like the perfect song to play at mosh pits. Here is a video edit  of the song accompanied with a scene from the classic 1998 vampire movie “Blade” and it’s just so unique. I’m excited to see what Carti does next and think this album will be much more appreciated later in his career.

“Division” by Jenevieve

Lastly, another one of my listens has been the debut album “Division” by an up-and-coming R&B artist named Jenevieve. She is based in L.A and was raised in Miami and her music went viral due to one of her singles titled “Baby Powder”. I found this album to be very nostalgic for certain reasons, it very much reminds me of Aaliyah’s and SZA’s works and just R&B that came out during the 90’s and early 2000’s which I love. My favorite of track on Division is called “Resume” and it’s a track about the ending of a relationship and how she is working her way through it, although that past relationship will always stay with her. The track is very melancholy and uses a mid-tempo beat as she pours her emotions and thoughts about wanting to give this relationship another chance, but it’s already too far gone. It’s a song about growth, and a lot of tracks on this album is exactly that, moving on and trying to look forward to the future, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the storytelling in her lyrics. I think Jenevieve has potential to become another one of the next R&B female artists, and Division has left a big impression on me overall.