Used as a metaphor, the ladder symbolizes Miller ascending through his life’s journey. “Ladders” serves as the midway point of Mac’s latest studio album Swimming. “I’m comin’, knockin’ on your door / Well, I’ma, I’ma maintain, I’m stayin’ so high / Put the ladder all the way up ’til we touching the sky / And you know you’re dead wrong, you’re in love with a lie / All I, all I, all I wanna do is free your mind / We don’t see no lines, we don’t color inside.” – “Ladders” McCormick touches on death - which he did a lot in his music - and says he would be okay with his life if he happened to pass away and greet the devil with a smile across his face. He admits to being trapped inside his own mind and that using drugs has continued to backfire in life. The introspective Earl Sweatshirt-produced tune finds Miller adopting his menacing alter-ego of Delusional Thomas. Mac kicks off his sophomore LP by looking inward into the depths of his psyche. “Don’t you ever wanna hide away/ Poseidon triumph in the eyes of rain / Won’t give a f–k about tomorrow if I die today/ I’ll greet the devil with a smiling face/ S–t, that God fellow may reside in space.” – “The Star Room” Plagued by a noticeably more hoarse rapping tone than usual, the former Rostrum Records artist begins explaining to listeners that he plans on taking several risks with his career in the future, which he followed through with years later. Mac teams with a pair of legends in Talib Kweli and 9th Wonder behind the boards. “Family First” was released when the Pittsburgh-bred rapper eclipsed the 500,000-follower mark. “Dealing with everybody’s opinion, tryna to do me / Only down one, I’m in the final shooting threes / Like I don’t give a f–k, music we f–k and switch the position up / We love the things that keep on bringin’ out the kids in us / Been workin’ all my life to do some different stuff and people have the nerve to say I’m young and haven’t lived enough.” – “Family First”īack in 2011, Mac launched the “Road 2 a Million Followers” campaign which had Miller unleashing a fiery track for every 100,000 followers he’d accumulate on the journey. Mac admits to not knowing how to react to his newfound fame when everyone began treating him differently because of his social status. The Big L savant took the baton for the tune’s second verse, where he runs through being a confident kid during his childhood and all of the career possibilities if rapping wasn’t in the cards. The pair rhyme about their experiences of being forced into the fire pit of fame too quick for their own good on the ID Labs-produced track. The first deep cut from Mac’s 2013 Watching Movies with the Sound Off sophomore album, “Matches,” teams Mac with TDE’s Ab-Soul. “Only 18 but I had my own business / Then I got fame like, ‘What the f–k is this?’ / Whole bunch of cameras, fake a– bitches / Everyone around wanna treat me all different / Oh I’m cool, cause I got money / Back in high school none of these hoes was tryna f–k me.” – “Matches” With the second verse, Malcolm touches on having to pull himself out of the mental abyss he’d been nestled into at various points of life and how creating music aids him and his fans to keep moving forward. The Los Angeles transplant then transitions into the lessons he’s learned throughout the trials and tribulations of his career. The soft piano-laden tune finds Miller in self-reflection, examining his career starting with 2009, the last year of his life before all of the fame came. “2009” is fan-favorite from what would be Mac’s last full body of work with Swimming, which he released back in August. “Take my time to finish, mind my business / A life ain’t a life ’til you live it / I was digging me a hole big enough to bury my soul / Weight of the world, I gotta carry my own / My own, with these songs I can carry you home / I’m right here when you’re scared and alone.” – “2009”
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