The growth Mac Miller has made as an artist on Watching Movies with the Sound Off is absolutely astonishing. The frat-boy inspired party rap that dominated Blue Slide Park is gone and exchanged for (mostly)more dark and thoughtful material. When listening to tracks like "REmember", which is about the death of one of Mac's close friends, I couldn't even believe this was the same guy that released tracks like "Donald Trump" and "Party on Fifth Ave." just a couple of years ago. Miller put a lot more time into the whole recording process and it shows in his lyrics and production choices. Miller teamed up with veteran producers like Flying Lotus, The Alchemist, Clams Casino, Pharrell and J. Hill to capture his more refined sound on this record with a ton of killer, intricate beats. Miller also self-produced a little over a quarter of this record himself (under the pseudonym Larry Fisherman) and his collaborations with the other elite producers wears off on his own production, which are primarily trippy, cloud rap beats. Miller's production holds up against these greats (especially Clams Casino, who Miller clearly takes a lot of inspiration from with his psychedelic-inspired beats,) which speaks volumes about how good of a producer he is. Working with a plethora of great beats from these top-notch producers has also does wonders for Miller's rapping. His delivery is a lot more clear and cohesive this time around and the lyrics are mostly solid, even great at times. Miller is still a young dude, but there is some surprisingly introspective stuff for a 21-year old kid (especially on the aforementioned "REmember" and "Aquarium".) Some people have knocked him for lyrical themes on this record, but he's definitely in-tune with his emotions and expresses them pretty eloquently throughout the duration of the album.
Watching Movies with the Sound Off isn't all serious though. There are times where Miller is just having fun, but unlike his older material it's actually fun and appropriately tongue-in-cheek. Tracks like "Bird Call" (which sees Clams Casino going out of his normal chill territory and producing an absolute banger,) "Gees" and "Watching Movies" see Miller dropping plenty of clever metaphors and flowing very well. The confidence, delivery, clever humor and lack of poppiness separate these tracks from the non-serious tracks that dominated his older stuff. Save for bonus track "Goosebumpz" which reeks of the annoying party-boy material of Blue Slide Park, Miller has found the right tone for the his non-serious tracks with a nice balance of laughs, smarts and charisma without the obnoxiousness that deterred his goofy tracks in the past.
Watching Movies with the Sound Off is one of the most surprisingly enjoyable listens of 2013 so far for me. Mac Miller has made substantial strides as an artist and has found a way to make a mature and polished record that is balanced with a nice sense of humor and at times, some very sharp and honest lyricism. The production is outstanding from both Miller himself and the outside producers and are a big part of the evolution Miller has made on this record. I still can't fully comprehend how much different and enjoyable this than Miller's earlier work, which I found to be completely annoying and amateurish. Miller still has some growing up to do and needs a little bit work in the lyrical consistency department, but Watching Movies with the Sound Off is a nice jumping-off point for him as a serious artist and if he keeps maturing, he has a vastly promising career ahead of him.
3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Watching Movies
2.REmember
3.Bird Call
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