There will be no lack of snapbacks and lyrical rap attacks this Saturday night, as one of hip-hop’s fastest rising stars makes an appearance in the Pioneer Valley.
Malcolm McCormick, better known in the rap community as Mac Miller, has just embarked on his Blue Slide Park Tour this week, and will make his second stop of the circuit this weekend at the John M. Greene Hall at Smith College in Northampton.
The tour, which will travel all over most of the continental United States and will last through late December, will celebrate the Pittsburgh native’s debut studio album, which drops on Nov. 8, and is named after one of his city’s most beloved playgrounds, Blue Slide Park.
At 19 years of age, Miller has enjoyed his fair share of success. His clever wordplay and rhyme schemes coupled with his persona as a fun-loving and charismatic character has made it easy for his popularity to rise, especially among high school and college-aged listeners.
Miller’s career launched in 2007 when, under the stage name of Easy Mac and at the age of 15, he released his first solo mixtape, “But My Mackin’ Ain’t Easy.”
He only gained popularity from there, releasing critically-acclaimed mixtapes “The High Life” and “K.I.D.S. (Kickin’ Incredibly Dope S**t)” in 2009 and 2010, respectively. And earlier this year, he released his third solo mixtape, “Best Day Ever,” which also received much attention. It has been downloaded over 440,000 times on DatPiff.com – the most of any of his releases – and his single, “Donald Trump,” debuted at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Miller also recently released his first single for his upcoming album. “Frick Park Market” debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and his accompanying music video has reached over six million views on YouTube.
Less than two months away from the release of “Blue Slide Park,” it seems as though Miller’s popularity is growing as rapidly as he spits bars.
He has amassed over 900,000 followers on Twitter and just last month he performed in front of a crowd of over 40,000 strong at the Boston City Hall Plaza as part of the Boston Urban Music Festival – by far his largest crowd to date, and he isn’t stopping there.
“Right now we’re doing things that no independent artist has done before,” Miller said in an interview with DJ Semtex earlier this month. “I want to see how far we can take it, because what if … what if we built it to the point where we sell a platinum record independently? That would be ridiculous.”
Joining Miller on-stage Saturday night will be Los Angeles-bred emcee Casey Veggies.
Veggies was an original member of the hip-hop group Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA), as he grew up with front man Tyler, The Creator and made music with them.
However, Veggies recently decided he wanted to pursue a solo career, leaving the group and releasing his own projects.
“My whole life I wanted to do my own thing,” the 18-year-old Veggies said in an interview with thesermonsdomain.com. “Going into anything, I always wanted to do my own thing. That’s just how I am. It’s just me putting out my own albums and music. Having my own movement.”
Following the releases of his first two solo projects, “Customized Greatly Vol. 1” and “Customized Greatly Vol. 2,” Veggies is coming off the heels of releasing his third solo mixtape this past Tuesday, “Sleeping in Class,” which has garnered early praise and of which includes tracks that he will undoubtedly perform Saturday night.
Additionally, Pittsburgh hip-hop group The Come Up will join Veggies and Miller in Northampton and for some of the tour.
The concert is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday and is an all-ages show.
Stephen Hewitt can be reached at [email protected].
