By: Emily Bracher

The late rapper Mac Miller’s mixtape, Faces, was officially re-released on October 15th. It was originally released on May 11th, 2014, but was only available on other streaming platforms. With the announcement of its release on September 15th, Face’s first single Color and Shapes was released.

Malcolm James McCormick, better known as Mac Miller, sadly passed away at the age of 26 in September of 2018 to what was believed to be an accidental overdose. His music career started at the young age of 15 (2007), and he was officially signed over to Rostrum Records in 2010. Later that year, his hit mixtapes K.I.D.S. and Best Day Ever were released. Blue Slide Park (2011), Miller’s debut studio album, was the first independently distributed debut album that had topped the US Billboard 200 since 1995. His record label imprint, REMember Music, was founded in 2013, later followed by the release of another studio album, Watching Movies with The Sound Off that same year. After his second album release, he left Rostrum Records and signed with Warner Bros. Records in 2014, with who he released albums such as GO:OD AM (2015), The Divine Feminine (2016), Swimming (2018), and his posthumous album, Circles (2020).  

Faces begins with Inside Outside, a sample from the track “My Lady”, off the album Street Life, by the Crusaders. It sets the overall tone of the mixtape with similar verses highlighting his struggle with mental health and substance abuse. Every song contains a somewhat psychedelic and dreamy background noise, the words flowing like poetry as Miller describes certain instances in his life dealing with drugs and depression. Producers did an excellent job at keeping Mac’s original message together when piecing the mixtape together, which is difficult without him being present. The mixtape is concluded with Yeah – Bonus which is, personally, one of the better songs of the album as it not only features Miller’s good use of words, but highlights the rapper’s voice. 

Faces came at the perfect time as many other artists have been releasing hit albums/mixtapes this year. As 2021 comes to a close, it concludes the year as a time capsule of what is considered his greatest hits. It was put together perfectly in such a short time, while also containing almost 85 minutes worth of sound. It pays a tribute to the late artist who impacted much of today’s youth; his words resonating with so many. Just over a month ago, on September 7th, marks 3 years since his passing, which was shortly followed by the announcement of Faces release. 

In more recent news, the drug dealer responsible for Mac’s death has pleaded guilty. He was one of three suspects who gave the artist counterfeit drugs, which were laced with fentanyl. Stephen Walter, 48, was not the one who directly gave him the drug, but was involved. It was also admitted by another suspect that they “knowingly and intentionally” gave him a fake, as a part of a plea deal.