Mac Miller ‘Watching Movies With The Sound Off’ – Album Review

I first started following Mac Miller purely because of the love for the photography in his video “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza’ but after a few more videos I compelely fell in love. His mixtape in 2010 ‘K.I.D.S’ was a winner for me, with bangers such as ‘Knock Knock’, ‘Good Evening’ and ‘Senior Skip Day’. It turned me into an obsessive. Being a super fan of most things hip-hop, Mac Miller proved to me that there was still modern brilliance in new hip hop music after recent disappointments in the ‘golden age’ rappers choice of direction following on from years hip hop brilliance.

From 2010 onwards Mac didn’t stop creating and improvising on his sound. With lyrics such as “You know how much you love it when you get it in abundance. Give a fuck about a budget when you always be the subject of discussion” Mac Miller has always proved that he’ll say what he wants when he wants and no one is going to stop him. I saw him live last year and his stage presence is unbelievable for somebody so young, but with his last album ‘Blue Slide Park’ selling roughly 400,000 copies it was not a surprise that every single member of the crowd were drenched in sweat and bashing each other to get closer views.

His new album ‘Watching Moves With The Sound Off’ is a far cry from his older music such as ‘Cruise Control’ and ‘Don’t Mind If I Do’. The album consists of darker beats and features artists such as Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler The Creater known best for their obscene lyrics and ‘give a fuck’ attitude. This album is a constant reminder of the steps Malcolm McCormick has made from a low key rapper from Pittsburgh to a worldwide superstar working with well known rappers such as Wiz Khalifa and Pharrell Williams.

The album is not one to listen to whilst your nan is trying to find the 4 word number down on the daily crossword whilst your robbing her of all her month old biscuits, this album is the epitome of grimey and deep hip hop and is a complete turn around from his last album ‘Blue Slide Park’. It is an album that works best whilst listened to with the bass fully up, headphones on so that all of the layered materials of each song can be truly credited for.

A Jam Luckhurst approved album!

@jamluckhurst