SOUNDTRACK: MAC MILLER-Tiny Desk Concert #773 (August 6, 2018).
Man, I hate Mac Miller’s delivery on “Smaaaaaall Worlds.” The way he drags out those words, the fact that his mouth i full of gauze, The way he pauses from time to time which makes it seem like he forgot the words. Although as with a lot of rappers at Tiny Desk, the live band including Alexander “Justus” West (Guitar) and Kendall Lewis (Drums) really make the music sound good.
The best part is when Thundercat comes over decked out ion his colorful regalia and plays the shaker midway through the song. And when Mac acknowledges Thundercat on the shaker–why is Mac’s speaking voice so much clearer than his rapping voice?
Mac real name Malcolm James Meyers McCormick is pretty funny when he’s just talking, too. I was wondering how a young guy I’d never heard of could be so cocky at this Tiny Desk, then I saw
With nearly a decade under his belt at 26 years old, these words ring like an artist twice his age. We were introduced to Mac Miller via 2011’s XXL Freshman Class, which featured a special crop of MCs such as Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill and YG, all of whom are now considered in the upper echelon of hip-hop. After his big splash, he’s been able to find a groove and consistently release quality rap records, ultimately keeping his name in the conversation with the other young greats. These consecutive triumphs amassed plenty of fame, fortune and insurmountable obstacles, causing a stumble here and there. Throughout the years, however, Mac has brushed himself off and put it in the music.
The real star of “What’s the Use” is Thundercat on bass. I don’t even follow the words I’m so focused on Thundercat’s amazing six string bass work. And when Thundercat sings “I Just Wanna Fly” and takes a credit, it wins over the room.
The other bassist Joseph Cleveland is also great, when Thundercat trades off for the final song.
For the final song, “2009” he says he wanted to have strings on this song but they couldn’t travel with strings. So they sent the music to these guys (Robin Fay-Massie (Violin), YaShauna Swan (2nd Violin), Lelia Walker (Viola), Melanie Hsu (Cello)). They just played it for the first time 20 minutes ago. The strings are lovely with the piano (Javad Day). The music deserves better than his lame drawl for a vocal line. Even if the lyrics are introspective and “mature.”
[READ: November 11, 2018] “The Poor Girl”
F. Scott Fitzgerald kept a notebook for stories ideas. This story comes from idea he never wrote about. Nunez and other authors wrote stories from these ideas for McSweeney’s 22. I didn’t write about individual stories in that post, so I get to here.
Nunez chose”Girl marries a dissipated man and keeps him in healthy seclusion. She meanwhile grows restless and raises hell on the side.”
And she conveys it well, with some delicious details.
This is told by a third party, a friend of the dissipated man. He explains that Calvin Trent had been a writer, now well into his decline, when he met the girl
He had met the girl in a shop on Madison selling hats, or it might have been gloves or scarves. She had poor girl’s teeth but other than that she was fine. Although she was saddled with the name Eunice Cramp.
Eunice (who had never heard of Calvin before meeting him) believed in him entirely. She was starry-eyed about the author and loved the man.
They were married and she kept him from his friends (like the narrator) who encouraged his drunkenness which she felt contributed to his ruin. Some of those friends had gotten married , but the others “discovered Bohemia.”
She got him on the wagon and turned that seedy flat into a home. He looked younger, steadier and cockier than ever. His new work was good, too.
Several years passed and Calvin was a like a monk, but Eunice was bored out of her mind. She had hoped to have a child by now but apparently Calvin wouldn’t or more likely couldn’t give her one (gasp)..
Well, she confided to Kitty (one of their group) and Kitty invited the girl out with them. She didn’t invite Calvin for fear that he would revert (which he no doubt would). But “with Eunice’s kind, it takes only one small sin to make a girl judge herself fallen. The feeling makes her hate herself and the self-hatred compels her to sin a second time and then over and over.” Sure she had fun (the narrator made sure of that) but it was pretty depraved
Of course it was inevitable that Calvin would find out.
The ending is interesting for the way the narrator doesn’t seem to be able to finish his story.
From such a simple plotline, Sigrid made a great story.
I Just Read About That... 
Leave a comment