By Sean McDonald
Sports Editor
To call Mac Miller’s “The Divine Feminine” just a rap or hip hop album would be an unfair assessment of its depth and style. In the simplest of terms, it is a subtle masterpiece.
It’s hard to exactly put a finger on what it is that Miller does so well, but his establishment and connection of the theme of feminine beauty throughout the album is extremely impressive. The groovy and soul inspired beats only add to the already thoughtful and intimate lyrics, even though there isn’t a whole lot of songs on the album.
This Pittsburgh starlet will not be new to fame though, as he already enjoyed the success of his single “Donald Trump” in 2011 and the “GO:OD AM” album in 2015. He signed to Rostrum Records, a Pittsburgh based indie record label in 2010
Deemed a rapper by most, Miller certainly comes off as more of a singer and jazzy lyricist in “The Divine Feminine”. What really seems to stick out about the album is it’s central foundation of the human interaction and quasi worship of the female gender.
Miller definitely has no shortage of big names featured throughout his album including the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, Cee-Lo Green, Ariana Grande, and Kendrick Lamar. They all do an incredible job of cementing the motifs and themes found throughout the rest of the album, like the power between man and woman found in “Soulmate.”
At no point in listening to the album can a central weakness be found, the quality remains consistent throughout, and the only variability you will find is that some songs truly stand out among the plethora of already good songs. There is the long drawn out epic of “God is Fair, Sexy Nasty” and then you can switch to the quicker paced songs like “Skin” and “Dang.”
The songs that seemed to be the intended focal points of the album were “Dang!”, “Soulmate.” Both of the songs really drove home that central vibe of feminine beauty and human connection. Although similar in structure and incorporation of theme, each one brings a unique and different vibe, length, and production style, while still maintaining the core values that make the album what it is.
At the heart of the album are the soul and jazzy samples and intricate instrumentals that really separate this “rap” album from others. The lyrical genius provided by Miller combined with the thoughtful contributions from the featured artists mixed with the excellent and somewhat sleepy instrumentals provide for a listening experience that is is organic and feels almost uncommon.
It would be hard to give the album an overall ranking or score. The only real shortcoming of the album is its lack of quantitative content, but it still does an incredible job of conveying a theme of feminine beauty that can be found through analytical interpretation of the lyrics. There only 10 songs but that is still pending the release of a deluxe edition, which could include even more of what made this album truly inspirational.
“The Divine Feminine” is available right now for free on Apple Music and Spotify.
Check out all of Mac Miller’s newest content on his website
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