By Maddy Gaillard – Staff Reporter 

Mac Miller was an American rapper and record producer. In 2010, he signed a record deal with the independent label Rostrum Records. He then released his breakthrough mixtapes “K.I.D.S” (2010) and “Best Day Ever”(2011). Miller also saw a ton of success with his debut studio album “Blue Slide Park” in 2011. In 2013, he founded the record label imprint REMember Music. After his sophomore album, he signed to a new record label and released four studio albums: “GO:OD AM”(2015), “The Divine Feminine”(2016), “Swimming”(2018) and “Circles”(2020). Miller has been nominated for a Grammy with his release of “Swimming”. Miller later died in 2018 due to an accidental drug overdose. 

The mixtape “Faces” is the eleventh mixtape by Miller. It was independently released for free download on May 11, 2014. The mixtape is a follow up to his second album “Watching Movies With The Sound Off” (2013). On October 15, 2021, “Faces” was commercially released on streaming platforms and vinyl. The mixtape goes in depth to Miller’s addiction problems and he portrays this by creating more psychedelic and jazz songs. Miller produced most of this mixtape himself, because of this he incorporated many dark lyrical themes. The mixtape has multiple features including Rick Ross, Earl Sweatshirt, Schoolboy Q, Mike Jones, Sir Michael Rocks, Vince Staples, Ab-Soul and Dash. The mixtape has 25 songs and runs for about an hour and a half. 

The strong points of this mixtape are that it has multiple features which can be good for a listener to have because it can switch up the flow of the music. It is also nice to have a numerous amount of songs that gives the listener more chances to like something. The mixtape has features of rap, jazz and R&B. The selection of songs is overall very catchy and it does not all sound the same which is widely appreciated amongst many listeners. 

Some weak points of the mixtape are that it can be similar to his older music considering it was originally created in 2014. If someone is primarily a fan of Mac Miller’s new music, this may not be the mixtape for them because it is not as similar to his new releases. Additionally, some people may not like the amount of features this mixtape has. It overall really depends on the listeners personal preference of music and how this mixtape can compare to Miller’s previous releases. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars