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Mac Miller Discusses Detoxing With Rick Rubin, Recording With Cam’ron And Pharrell

He dishes on his collaborations in a new podcast interview.

Photographer Todd Cole
September 08, 2015

Mac Miller's struggles with addiction are well-known, but in a recent interview on the podcast A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, he revealed that Rick Rubin played a key role in getting him sober. After a European tour got too crazy, the legendary producer apparently encouraged Mac to "get his life together." Rubin helped him stay sober "a few weeks to a month," while the rapper stayed at a house down the street from him.

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Mac's unreleased collaborations were also discussed at length. There's Pink Slime, an EP that Miller recorded with Pharrell before the release of his second album Watching Movies With The Sound Off:

One of the tracks we did, actually, ended up on Travi$ Scott’s album. I’m not gonna say which one. I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that. It was dope!...I think, at that point, I had to make this decision—which I was proud of myself for making, that Pharrell is this artist, years in the game who’s up here. And I needed to cement my own identity and what I did first. I wanted to put out Watching Movies.

A track with Nas:

I had to do the beat in front of [Nas] - like it was fucking terrifying...I think it’s coming out on the Mass Appeal album, whenever that comes out. And his verse is crazy! I think when I get on songs with people, they rap really well because I don’t think they want any chance that I have a better verse. It’s tight. It’s flattering.

And a cancelled Christmas-themed record with Cam'ron:

It was like around the same time I was gonna do the Pharrell EP...[Cam’ron] wanted to do it like Step Brothers-themed. Looking back, I wish I [put it out]. But I’ve made, like, nine albums before putting this one [GO:OD AM] out.

Listen to the whole episode below, then watch our interview with Mac and read his FADER cover story.