An update on the progress of a previously disclosed collaboration with the late Mac Miller was given by Madlib. There may be new music from Miller coming soon!
The project, which in 2019 was referred to as Maclib, was addressed by Madlib during an appearance on Sway in the Morning on Monday.
“Right now I’m finishing up the Mac Miller album,” Around the 5:21 mark in the video below, he says something that prompts Sway to clarify whether or not this is the same record that was referenced when Mac passed away at the age of 26. Madlib stated that the project in question is the same one and that Mac’s estate has granted its okay.
“They’re down,” he told Sway and company.
Talib Kweli was also present for the conversation; he and Madlib had just released their joint album, Liberation 2. Notably, that CD has Mac’s postmortem verse. “Me and Mac Miller both rhymed to the same Madlib beat at the same time in different places,” Kweli revealed to Sway. “When we found that out, we were like, now it’s a song together.”
Thelonious Martin admitted to DJBooth in 2019 that he had learned about the initiative while attending the Pitchfork Music Festival the year before. It was unclear at the time whether or when the provisionally named Maclib would receive a formal release. There is currently no defined date. A formal announcement, however, looks to be imminent given that Madlib has said that the estate is on board and that he is busy “finishing up” the record.
The statement stated that Miller and Madlib started working together after the late rapper recorded a verse for Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s “Piñata,” according to a 2019 article by Fader.
“By early 2015 Mac had batches of Madlib’s beats and was recording songs,” the now-deleted statement read. Miller would then send those songs back to Madlib, who would often play them during his live DJ sets. Clips of those songs circulated on the internet in the time that followed but they can no longer be found online.
Miller’s fifth album, “Swimming,” his final work before his away in 2018, received a 2019 Grammy Award nomination for best rap album. In 2020, his estate issued “Circles” after his passing.
