One pass through the dynamic “A Moment 4 Jazz,” and any questions over Mac’s artistic merit all but evaporate. Twenty years old, and he produced and arranged You on his own for the sake of the art. Yes, You is a healthy dose of method acting, but let’s not forget Mac Miller made this project at 20. You is a stunning creative flex both isolated and in the context of Mac’s discography. I’m sure everyone is tired of hearing me discuss jazz, but let’s not sell ourselves short here.

Narrowing in on the jazz medium, Miller was moving with purpose and the result was one of the first in a long succession of records he sounded thrilled to be creating. Slotted between the touchstone of his creative renaissance, Macadelic, and his first commercial pursuit of forms, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, You is one of Miller’s most intentional and focused projects-it’s also one of his most lighthearted. On black vinyl - Mac Miller’s jazzy, lounging alter ego Larry Lovestein certainly was back in 2012, with the release of his cigar-puffing, dark liquor-basking, cool jazz EP You.