In celebration of reaching one million Twitter followers, Pittsburgh emcee Mac Miller released a free mixtape for his fans entitled I Love Life, Thank You. In case the title doesn’t clue you in, it’s an unbelievably happy affair. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that Mac Miller is 2011’s Happiest Rapper Alive. And it’s (somewhat) justified. On I Love Life, those one million Twitter followers will find exactly what they signed up for: while spitting over 13 tracks that can all be described as upbeat, laidback and Wiz Khalifa-y, the white boy finds time to genuinely impress with his flows.

I specifically say “flows” and not “lyrics” because despite his skin color, nobody is christening Mac Miller the next Marshall Mathers. He can, however, get away with simplistic lyrics like “Been to London, been to France/Go there if you get the chance,” on “Willie Dynamite,” because he follows the couplet up with five or six perfectly placed (if not terribly clever) rhymes before stopping to draw a breath. It’s almost as though he’s running flow endurance exercises in front of our ears, and rewards himself with a cackle every time he completes one (there’s a lot of cackling).

Miller’s carefree and borderline sugary attitude only works because he possesses a somewhat surprising amount of charisma. “Love Lost,” a poignant teenage romance song that finds Mac begging a lost love, “why don’t you come back home?” would sound like absolute garbage if basically anyone else attempted to pull it off. Instead, with the emcee’s high school-stoner charm, it’s a highlight of the tape. Eventually Miller is going to outgrow this ability and will have to adapt, but for now, there’s no reason to complain.

The issues with the tape (besides the relative lack of lyricism and the feeling you’ve tuned into a tape aimed at someone much younger than Justin Bieber) arise when Mac tries to go bar-for-bar with some of his guests. He sounds so at home on his own here that we don’t even mind when he starts rapping about toilet bowl seats on “Cold Feet.”  But seeing as he was discovered by and is the only other MC anyone can name from the same city as Wiz Khalifa, the only guest appearance any of Mac’s fans (and he lets us know that he made this tape because he loves them. How awesome is he?) would really ask for is with Mr. Black-and-Yellow. The potential for a Batman-and-Robin type-collabo should have been too good to pass up (and presumably will be for Mac’s upcoming album). Instead, Miller chose to go toe-to-toe with superior rappers like Sir Michael Rocks and Talib Kweli, the latter of whom compares Mac to Lil’ Bow Wow. Ouch.

Regardless, I Love Life will turn on more fans than it’ll turn off. It’s nice to see Mac release something not involving Spongebob Squarepants, and there’s no doubt that this tape succeeds in its dual goals of rewarding his loyal fanbase and building hype for the November 8^th release of his album, Blue Slide Park.

3 / 5 bars

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