maputo regalement: Mac Miller Reunites, Shares Secrets With His 'First Date'

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Mac Miller Reunites, Shares Secrets With His 'First Date'

MTV's Rya Backer also has a few chance encounters with 'exes' like Kendrick Lamar and Young the Giant at Bonnaroo '12.
By Rya Backer

Mac Miller on a "First Date"
Photo:

Bonnaroo, you seem so far away already. Earlier this month, I caught some amazing performances — Battles, Feist and Ludacris were just some of my favorites. But between sets, I found myself fighting to maintain my composure as I encountered something many men and women face daily: bumping into an ex.

Granted, they were rapper and rocker exes of the fictionalized "First Date" variety, but still: We'd gone on a date. And yes, there were cameras involved and I'm very much in a real-life relationship (which is to say nothing of the statuses of the many artists I've gone out with), but still — connections were made.

So, on a plot of land somewhere between Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, I ran into upwards of seven "exes." Over a fairly wide expanse, I had chance run-ins with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and Young the Giant.

And then there was Mac Miller.

A perennial fave around the MTV newsroom (and a favorite "First Date" episode among rabid followers of the series such as my mother and father), Mac and I caught up with each other to talk about what he's been up to since we first went out late last year for a kosher lunch at New York's Katz's Deli.

"I made history," he deadpanned, referring to his debut, Blue Slide Park, which became the first independent album to hit #1 in well over a decade. In addition to that small feat, Mac toured the world and dropped an acclaimed mixtape, Macadelic. A follow-up mixtape with Pharrell is on deck, and there's even more music to be heard.

"I've been making my own beats, which I've done forever but, like, I'm really gonna start taking it seriously now," Mac told me. "I've been making beats forever, but no one had known ... I kept it secret."

Hopefully, we won't have to wait until a third date — which Mac suggested we do at a NASCAR race — to hear them.

Who should go on the next "First Date"? Share your suggestions in the comments!

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