Go around the world and back with Mac Miller on Wednesday, April 4, when he’ll be bringing “The Party on Fifth Ave” to the EMU Convocation Center. The Macadelic Tour is taking Ypsilanti, featuring musical guests The Come Up and Chicago-Detroit based hip-hop group The Cool Kids.
Mac Miller is an underground hip-hop artist from Pittsburgh who began producing music at the age of 15 with The Ill Spoken.
Mac is a man of many mix tapes, such as K.I.D.S., host to popular tracks like “Nikes on My Feet” and “Senior Skip Day”.
This mix tape was followed by Best Day Ever, featuring the infamous “Donald Trump,” reached #80 on the Billboard’s Hot 100, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by an independent artist since 1995.
In 2010 Mac Miller resigned his independent artist status and signed with Rostrum Records releasing the album Blue Slide Park shortly after.
The album hits close to home for Pittsburgh natives – each track on the album, titled for one of Pittsburgh’s largest public parks, recounts a specific place or person from Pittsburgh, a food joint Miller used to work at called “Frick Park Market” and a familiar face, “Man in the Hat.”
April will not be Mac’s first time bringing his hometown spirit, chill vibes and dope beats to Eastern Michigan. Last April, he performed with Wiz Khalifa in the “Green Carpet Tour” and made lasting impressions.
“When Mac Miller performs he doesn’t just stand and rap,” Ryan Boehler, a Mac Miller fan who witnessed the madness of Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa firsthand, said. “He goes nuts. He’s all over the place dancing. It really gets the crowd excited. I only had floor seats and it’s jam-packed, it’s hot, it’s uncomfortable, but you don’t care. You’re just feeding off of the excitement and enjoying the concert.”
Mac Miller’s music draws in a crowd of both experienced concertgoers and first timers. “This’ll be my first concert ever,” Haralambos Smyrniotes, first year student at EMU, said. “I’m gonna go crazy, and the closer I am to the stage the better.”
In order to prepare for a Mac Miller concert, “You gotta get in the zone and get ready to party your ass off,” Boehler said. “We’ll start listening to the music days in advance to mentally prepare for that artist. Then the day of we don’t listen to his music, so when you hear it live you get really pumped.”
Mac Miller is a musical juggernaut who lets his music speak for itself. Boehler, who aspires to be part of the music industry, finds the young rapper inspirational. “The reason I find Mac Miller so interesting, why I listen to his music, why I’m a huge fan is because he never sold out, he just stuck with it. Watching someone our age take over everything himself is really inspiring.”
The doors to the Convocation Center at 799 N. Hewitt open at 7 p.m. on April 4, and the show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are going for $28 online at www.emutix.com, or by phone at 734-487-2282.
