Count Em Up! The 10 Biggest Moments of Mac Miller's Year
The Moment: Dropping "Donald Trump," the first single from his mixtape, Best Day Ever
The Date: February 9
How Great Is That? The single didn't infiltrate radio or suddenly make the world sit up and pay attention to Mac. But, as you'll see in a few moments, it did catch the attention of a certain mogul (we're sure you can guess who it is!) and get Mac plenty of extra looks from the rap blogs and, more importantly, the mainstream media.
The Moment: Performing in front of a sold-out crowd at the Highline Ballroom in New York City
The Date: March 11
How Great Is That? Okay, so there have been a number of acts this year who have sold out Highline. It's not exactly equivalent to selling out Madison Square Garden. But, it is important to remember that Mac sold out this show and countless other shows this year despite the fact that he didn't even have an official album out at the time. That's impressive.
The Moment: Releasing his mixtape, Best Day Ever
The Date: March 11
How Great Is That? Best Day Ever? Back then, Mac was taking baby steps. At this point, shouldn't he consider calling his next tape, Best Year Ever? But, seriously, Best Day Ever was another step in the right direction for Mac, who more than held his own on this tape.
The Moment: Revealing that he is working on a collaborative project called '92 Til Infinity with DJ Jazzy Jeff
The Date: March 16
How Great Is That? At the Woodie Awards, Mac broke the news that he and Jazzy Jeff were cooking something up. He also gave a great reason for doing it. "I'm excited because this younger generation, I want to give them that," he said at the time. "I want them to know who Jazzy Jeff is."
The Moment: Releasing an EP, On and On and Beyond, shortly after dropping Best Day Ever
The Date: March 29
How Great Is That? And it don't stop! Despite the fact that he released Best Day Ever just a short time earlier, Mac kept feeding his fans by dropping an official EP. And paid off when it managed to enter the Billboard 200 charts at No. 55 in April.
The Moment: Appearing on an episode of VH1's new show, Single Ladies
The Date: June 13
How Great Is That? He played the role of a rapper, so it wasn't really that much of a stretch for him. But it usually takes rappers a few years before they start getting any sort of acting looks. Mac got his and there's a pretty good chance that a whole bunch of people who were watching him at the time didn't even know who he was. That's all starting to change now, though.
The Moment: Getting added to the Rock The Bells 2011 lineup
The Date: May 24
How Great Is That? Again, he did this without the benefit of having a proper album out. Many of the other acts on the bill, including Nas, Mobb Deep, Slaughterhouse, Black Star, and Raekwon & Ghostface, were hip-hop veterans. Yet, Mac still managed to earn a slot on the tour.
The Moment: Having Donald Trump approve the song named after him
The Date: July 12
How Great Is That? In a video, the Donald explained that he was "flattered" to have a song named after him. It gave the song—which had sold close to 20,000 copies at the time—a second life and shined a new spotlight on Mac.
The Moment: Receiving his one millionth follower on Twitter and releasing a new mixtape, I Love Life, Thank You, to commemorate it
The Date: October 14
How Great Is That? One million Twitter followers! To put that into perspective, Jay-Z currently has 1.1 million followers. Not bad for a guy who's still not signed to a major label, huh?
The Moment: Releasing his debut album, Blue Slide Park
The Date: November 8
How Great Is That? The time is finally here. After all of the freestyles, songs, and mixtapes, Mac dropped his debut—named after a playground in Pittsburgh—to the masses this week. From here, things should only get better. So enjoy the ride, son.
