Mac Miller Reflects on his Hiatus, Label Transition and 'GO:OD AM'

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Coming off of his latest album drop GO:OD AM, Mac Miller has been on an interesting journey as of late. Recently, the 23 year-old Pittsburgh native was able to sit down with HYPETRAK to discuss his two year hiatus, the transition between moving from an independent to a major label and his growth as an artist. The full interview can be read on HYPETRAK.

HT: So this is obviously your first project being signed to a major. How’s transition been like? Sometimes with a major you don’t have full creative control –

MM: No we set everything up so I’d have complete creative control. There’s nothing different in the way that things are done. There’s no A&R, no executive producer. It’s just me doing the same shit I’ve always done and that was really important to me. To come out and do the first major and have all of these really big players a part of it — maybe at some point, like maybe at some point I’ll sit and work with Timbo and shit — but it’s not time for that yet.

HT: What sparked you to do music again during those two years?

MM: It’s been in the process of being created for a long time, and I wanted my next statement to come from a place of confidence. I had to get myself in a state of mind that was comfortable with myself and what my life is. So I wanted this album to be more upbeat and fun. There’s nothing wrong with having fun. A lot of people are like “Having fun is corny.” Nah dude, having fun is tight and it’s way better than being depressed.

HT: So tell us about the people you worked with on this album.

MM: As far as production ID Labs did six of them. I went back home and worked with the home team. I didn’t do any of the beats on this one. Sha Money XL did a joint; Sounwave did a couple; Frank Dukes did a bunch of shit on it because he’s fucking crazy with it. The only feature that was made together was with Ab-Soul. He was at the studio when I was making something and I was like “Yo, let’s make this song.” But everyone else that’s featured on it was after the fact, like after I made the record I was like “I want this person to do this.” Juicy J does some ad libs and has a line; Schoolboy Q has a skit and sings background vocals; Little Dragon sends the album out — Yukimi sings and the rest of the band plays on this one record; and Lil B does some spoken word poetry shit on it. At this point I knew what I wanted to do with this album, and I have relationships with people where I can be like “Yo, can you do this on this” and not “Hey man, can I get a 16?” So it’s more like that.

HT: What’s the meaning behind the title?

MM: It’s split like a clock — like how 12:30 is four digits. So G, O, colon, O, D and then AM. It’s more like clarity — if you were on a weeklong acid trip and you sleep for two days, and you walk outside and you’re like, “Oh shit, reality.” That’s what the album is — back to reality.

HT: I’ll be good in the AM.

MM: Yeah, that’s exactly the point.