Mac Miller sure does keep himself busy. This guy has been releasing several projects per year for a while now. Today I am reviewing his new mixtape, Faces. My expectations are pretty high for this, mainly because I loved Mac's two releases from 2013. His studio album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, was solid, and his mixtape, Delusional Thomas, was one of my favorites of the year. Will Mac keep up the good work on this new project?
With Faces, Mac Miller keeps up the formula he used on Watching Movies with the Sound Off. Hazy and atmospheric beats, memorably goofy lyrics, and some deep emotions make up the majority of this tape. Starting with the rapping, Mac spits really well on this mixtape, maybe better then I've ever heard him. He raps with a lot of different voice inflections, as he may have a deep relaxed voice or a higher, more energetic delivery. I like them both though, and Mac has stepped up his technical skills a bit as well. On some of these tracks, Mac flows effortlessly over the beat and sounds like a natural MC. The most memorable part of Mac Miller's rapping is once again the lyricism. Mac has a huge variety when it comes to what he says. He can be hilarious, but also very serious. There are songs here where Mac will just spit a bunch of funny punchlines, then others where he tells an actual story. My favorite tracks here from a lyrical standpoint are Here We Go, Friends, What Do You Do, Happy Birthday, and Insomniak. Mac also improved his hooks a lot on this tape. There are some really infectious hooks here that I enjoyed a lot. Angel Dust had a very quirky and fun hook, Therapy had a high-energy, fast one, and Diablo had a simple one that became stuck in my head. I was pretty satisfied with the features on this project. There were some pretty surprising ones, like Rick Ross (Insomniak) and Mike Jones (Uber). Both of these guys fit well on their tracks, though, especially Mike Jones, who had a great storytelling verse on Uber. Mikey Rocks (What Do You Do) and Vince Staples (Rain) had solid contributions to their tracks, but the best guest verse came from Earl Sweatshirt on the song New Faces. Earl came out spitting with way more energy than I've ever heard him have, and it made me really excited for his future stuff. This mixtape has one glaring flaw, and its a big one. Faces is extremely bloated at 24 tracks. This is way too many, as there is filler everywhere. Songs like Malibu, Funeral, San Francisco, Colors and Shapes, and Apparition could have definitely been left off to make the tape better. Overall though, Mac's rapping was pretty good on Faces. The hooks and features were solid, and this mixtape had a lot of good moments. Its too bad this thing is far too long.
From an instrumental standpoint, Faces delivers. These beats aren't anything new for Mac Miller, but they definitely work nonetheless. The production here is atmospheric, relaxed, and pretty cloudy for the most part. These are my favorite beats for Mac Miller, as I feel his voice matches them perfectly. I like the beats the most on the songs Inside Outside, Angel Dust, What Do You Do, Diablo, and Rain. While most of the beats are in this atmospheric style, Mac wasn't afraid to try something new on Faces. The song Insomniak is a huge change for him, as this beat is a trap banger. Mac sounded good over it, and I was very surprised to hear him go over such a powerful beat. The song Grand Finale had an absolutely stellar beat. This one was led by some very nice electric guitars, and the whole thing sounded epic. This instrumental was perfect for the last song on the album. My favorite of them all, though, is Happy Birthday. The production on this track was awesome. It was so good, I was convinced it was an Alchemist beat when I heard of it. It features some fast paced drums, and some funky synthesizers come in around the middle. The beats on this mixtape were pretty good, but much like the rapping, it suffers from the problem of there being too many songs. Some of these beats don't stand out quite as much as others, but that doesn't mean they aren't good. Faces had very strong production overall.
FACES WRAP UP
+Great rapping from Mac, memorable punchlines and better flow
+Some really well-executed and catchy hooks
+Features brought a lot to their songs
+Fantastic production, with some ambitious new beats for Mac
-Way too long, lots of filler tracks
Best: Angel Dust, Happy Birthday, Diablo
Worst: Colors and Shapes
Mac Miller- Faces
7.8/10
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