The late rapper was extremely prolific during his 26 years.
The Road to ‘Balloonerism’: Exploring Every Unreleased Mac Miller Album
This Friday sees the release of Balloonerism, the second posthumous Mac Miller studio album following the rapper’s untimely death in 2018. Miller’s is among the most pristinely handled estates in the world of late rappers. Each feature, release, or anniversary commemoration feels like an authentic attempt to keep his legacy alive—not just a cash-grab.
Miller was extremely prolific during his brief yet impactful 26 years on Earth. He released a whopping five studio albums, 13 mixtapes, and even a live album. However, there remains a plethora of Mac Miller material left in the vault. These projects were at various stages of completion; some were intended for release down the line, while others were works in progress, never meant to see the light of day.
Ahead of Balloonerism’s release, we’re taking a look at several of Mac Miller’s unreleased bodies of work.
’92 Til Infinity
Among the many purportedly shelved Mac Miller projects, ‘92 Til Infinity still lingers on in the minds of diehard fans. Recorded primarily in 2011, the mixtape would have seen Miller connect with fellow Pennsylvania native DJ Jazzy Jeff to unite old and new school.
“The concept was, I did a song or two,” explained Jeff in a 2014 interview with HipHopDX, at which time the tape was near-completion. “I think Premier did a couple of songs and Pete Rock did a couple of songs. He got a lot of classic producers to do stuff.”
‘92 Til Infinity would have been built directly off of the carefree soundscape of Miller’s 2011 debut album, Blue Slide Park. The sole single to be released, the DJ Premier-produced “Face The Facts,” sounds directly in line with “Party of Fifth Ave” and “Frick Park Market.”
When I was fifteen, it was my dream to work with Preem
He believe in what I do, so now he’s makin’ this beat
And I’m writin’ these rhymes, makin’ sure that I kill it
Shinin’ like I’m acrylic, the government can’t conceal it
Pink Slime
Blue Slide Park was everything Miller could have wanted and more. The project hit number one on the Billboard 200 and became the first independently distributed album to achieve that feat since Tha Dogg Pound’s Dogg Food a whole 15 years earlier.
Despite the commercial success, Mac was far from critical acclaim. Critics compared him unfavorably as a lesser version of Wiz Khalifa and argued that he had a ways to go in order to find his sound. Who better to approach when looking to artistically evolve than Pharrell Williams?
Pink Slime was announced in summer of 2012 as a collaborative EP between the two artists. Features would have included the likes of Styles P and Curren$y. A pair of singles, “Onaroll” and “Glow,” offer a glimpse into what could have been, with Miller refining his aesthetic over lush Pharrell beats that sound suited for a spy movie.
Valiant efforts were made in late 2013 to complete the EP—yours truly planted the seeds in an interview with Mac to get the EP back on course—but when Williams rediscovered solo success with the one-two punch of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and his own “Happy,” the stars ultimately did not align for the two to get the job done.
In 2015, Miller revealed that an unreleased Pink Slime track ended up on Travis Scott’s Rodeo, presumably evolving into the Toro y Moi-featuring “Flying High,” on which Williams is credited.
Reflecting on his time working with Mac in a 2019 Vulture interview, Pharrell remembered an artist seeking validation from the public that Williams ultimately believed Miller could find within himself.
“He wanted people to know that there was way more to him than his indie-rap success,” Pharrell told Vulture. “He wanted people to know the layers and the depth of his potential. But I would always tell him, ‘Who cares that they know? Why is it not an amazing gift that you know this about yourself so much so that you do these things?’ And that was the question he could never answer. It was the question I don’t think he was gonna be able to answer. He was so focused on that quest that he really didn’t have time to answer.”
Cam’Ron
Following the release of “Dig That,” one of two tracks Mac Miller released with Cam’Ron in his lifetime, the Pittsburgh rapper teased that he and Dipset’s head honcho were toying with the idea of cooking up an entire project together.
“Me and Cam are actually talking about doing a project together,” Mac told XXL following the release of “Dig That” in early 2012. “We don’t know when we’re gonna do it. We have three or four songs recorded already. We’re working on more at this point.”
“Dig That” showcased why the unlikely pair had more in common than anyone could have imagined. The two wordsmiths glide over an irresistibly smooth sample of Cloud One’s “Dust to Dust.”
Now I’m livin’ pretty good, yeah, some would say phenomenal
All about my net like it’s a goalie in a soccer goal
Accomplished the impossible, my dreams, they seemed illogical
They ain’t about that essay paper, I’ma tell ‘em adios
Interestingly enough, the two were aiming for a holiday project. “We were gonna do a Christmas album,” Mac shared in a 2015 interview with ItstheReal. “It was around the same time we were gonna do the Pharrell EP, I was also gonna do a Christmas album. He wanted to do it, like, Step Brothers-themed.”
Metro Boomin
Did you know that Mac’s 2016 project The Divine Feminine nearly had a companion album? In an interview with GO 95.3 FM while promoting said album, Miller revealed that he was simultaneously working with superproducer Metro Boomin on an collaborative project that would serve as its “B-Side,” with a completely antithetical sound.
“I had this joint that I did with Metro Boomin that’s like some real hard stuff,” Mac said. “There was a love album and there was a really hard album that I was gonna release as a double album. It was going to be a one-person Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, but I decided to focus a little more [on The Divine Feminine].”
The only track from the album to see the light of day is “Real.” Leaked a few months after Miller’s passing, the track features lyrics that are eerily prophetic of Mac’s untimely demise.
The tracklist filled up with so many mistakes, can’t believe I’m alive
Will you be a saint or a sinner? Whatever you want, you decide
All day I been faded, all day I been faded, but fuck it, I drive
Now I’m in a Mercedes, the pills made me crazy, today I could die
Maclib
Madlib’s track record for bringing out the best in rappers speaks for itself. From working with MF DOOM on his magnum opus, Madvilliany, to helping drive Black Star to the finish line with their comeback effort, No Fear of Time, the Californian-based producer has redefined collaboration in hip-hop time and time again.
Miller and Madlib first met while recording the title track on Madlib and Freddie Gibbs’ 2014 album Piñata, with Miller’s verse serving as the final on the album. From 2015 to 2017, Miller recorded a substantial amount of music over Madlib beats—enough for an album’s worth of material.
Madlib has since confirmed the project’s existence and even gone as far as playing several tracks from the album during DJ sets throughout the years, including a Thundercat collaboration, seemingly titled “Lightning Dog.” The track is peak Madlib unorthodox, with Mac sounding back in his Watching Movies with the Sound Off and Faces era.
Well (Wooh!), I wish life was fair as a renaissance
She was a debutante, now she work at restaurants (Oh, baby)
I fuck a bitch, let him watch
Think she the one ‘cause I met her at a record shop (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh)
It seems likely that Maclib will eventually see the light of day, with Madlib confirming in 2023 that he was putting the finishing touches to the project while emphasizing the Miller estate supporting the release.
Ty Dolla $ign
A 2018 Rolling Stone article titled “Mac Miller’s Last Days and Life After Death” reveals that just weeks before Mac’s passing, he and Ty Dolla $ign, who’d collaborated on the Divine Feminine track “Cinderella,” were working on a joint project. It’s unclear whether enough material was recorded that we may one day see this album, though Miller appears posthumously on “I Believed It,” the lead single of Ty Dolla $ign’s 2021 Cheers to the Best Memories project with dvsn.
“That is probably my favorite song on the album,” Dolla $ign told Apple Music. “We went to LA and hooked up with Mac at the Record Plant. And he hopped in the booth and went crazy, but we didn’t love that verse. So with this Mac verse, he changed the whole joint on the next session we did, and then we had that record.”
Thundercat
Thundercat, a close friend of Miller’s who was set to serve as opening act on The Swimming Tour, let it slip in 2020 that he and Mac had at least an album’s worth of material together.
“It exist,” he tweeted in response to someone on that platform pondering the existence of a collab album. However, this may be one of the albums that stays tucked away.
“Everything isn’t meant to be put out like that. Me and Mac worked on a lot of different things. He did as he saw fit y’all gotta relax lol,” the bassist wrote just hours later.
Thundercat and Ty Dolla $ign joined forces alongside Lil B to pay tribute to their fallen friend on the track “Fair Chance.” Ty’s verse includes an interpolation of Mac Miller’s “Hurt Feelings,” from Swimming.
Things will never be the same
Never be the same again
Everything so strange (Strange)
It ain’t a game no more (A game no more, woah)
Other potential projects
Mac Miller’s vault is seemingly endless. While these seven are the projects we have most information on, fans have speculated over plenty more.
A screenshot of Mac’s computer from an episode of the reality series Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family offers a glimpse into other potential bodies of work that could have been, including MALCOM, Your Shoes Are Untied, and The Adventures of Superweirdo. This era was a notoriously collaborative one for the rapper. In 2015, Miller shared with ItsTheReal that there was even a point where TDE’s Ab-Soul would crash at his Los Angeles mansion and record for weeks at a time.
Mac Miller’s legacy lives on, not only through his officially released catalog but also through a treasure trove of unreleased material. As fans anticipate the release of Balloonerism, the notion of hearing more of Mac’s unreleased works keeps his spirit alive
