SXSW: Don't Get It Twisted - Mac Miller Is The Hip-Hop Story Down Here
Odd
Future rolled into this gauntlet as the front-runner in terms of
hip-hop buzz (both inside and outside of the rap community). And
after a slew of riotous onslaughts, they'll leave that way (here for
Phoenix coverage of the pandemonium at Fader Fort). But Mac Miller is
without-a-doubt the other nu-rap big to break huge down here, easily
graduating from the mid-sized venues he's been playing nationwide to
halls and theaters on momentum caught in Austin.
In his
Fader Fort show, Miller rocked like a seasoned tour devil,
demonstrating breath control on par with greats like Qwel or Apathy,
but with added animated antics (and tons of weed references) for his
frantic fans. Killing shows like this, Miller's sure to have some
real longevity in this game: if he can win over jocks, delinquents,
co-eds and nostalgic rap geeks like me, then he's accomplished a task
that seemed impossible until now.
It was
just a year ago that Boston's own Sam Adams put so-called frat rap on the map
for real, effectively scaring heads who were concerned about
authenticity and blah blah blah. In what seems like no time at all,
Miller has already muddied-up that cookie-cuter sub-genre, and no
doubt upset the plans of major labels that retained the services of
every whiteboy with an attitude and a diploma. Sometimes it's not
what you rap about that matters, but how you do it (and, more
importantly, how well you do it live). This week in Austin, Miller
passed those tests and then some.