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Live Local Music

Rising Hip Hop Artists: Mac Miller & Hoodie Allen

Posted by Karen Marchuska on 06/02 at 09:04 PM

The Basics:

Both of these rappers are young white kids trying to bust into the rap scene. Mac Miller hails from Pittsburgh, PA and got his start while he was still in school at Taylor Allderdice High School- the same school Wiz Khalifa attended. At just 17, Miller released two mixtapes, The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life, before getting signed to Rostrum Records in early 2010. Since then he has released four mixtapes, an EP, and BlueSlide Park- an album that debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Hoodie Allen was born and raised in New York, but he really got his rap game going while he was in college at University of Pennsylvania. It was there that he met his producer, RJ Ferguson. After graduating he got a full-time job at Google and pushed his rap career to his after-work hours. Eventually it got to be too much, and he chose to focus solely on his music. He has independently released four mixtapes and two EPs- the most recent of which, All American, made it to #1 on iTunes within hours of release and #10 on Billboard’s Top Albums.  Though his unique name may seem like a play on Woody Allen, he actually had the nickname “Hoodie” when he was growing up and wanted his stage name to be something memorable, so he settled on Hoodie Allen.

The Music:

Though they seem similar at first, with their immense popularity on college campuses and #1 iTunes albums, they have pretty different musical styles. They both use sick tracks to back their raps. though On Hoodie’s latest (All American), however, instead of using sample beats he worked with his producer to create tracks from scratch. Mac is known for his fast-talking flows and feel-good party jams about girls and getting high. Hoodie relies more on singing, which gives his songs more of a pop feel than Mac’s, which could possibly appeal to a wider audience than just the rap scene. As far as music videos, Mac is way ahead of the game with an extensive library of original videos, some of them with over 20 million views. Hoodie has only 5 videos with a little over 1 million views each.

Songs to check out:

Mac Miller:

“Knock Knock” is pretty well known as the Flyer’s win song, and it’s easy to hear why as it’s got an infectious hook.



“Thoughts From A Balcony” gives a look into some of Mac’s philosophical musings, stating “Looking at the sky, thinkin’ it could all be mine/ All we got is memories, so what the f—- is time.”

Hoodie Allen:

“#WhiteGirlProblems” is a humorous take on things girls do, and shouts out to celebrities that have these problems, like Taylor Swift and the “Friends” cast.

“No Faith in Brooklyn” relies heavily on Hoodie’s singing and shows a more serious side to his more serious lyric writing.

Songs to listen for this summer:

Mac Miller- “Loud” is the first single from Mac’s spring release “Macadelic.”  With the hook “I like my music real loud, real loud, can you turn this track up for me right now, right now” it’s sure to be blaring out of cars everywhere throughout the summer.

Hoodie Allen- “Eighteen Cool” has a great head-bopping beat and with the vitriolic lines “Middle finger to the dudes back in high school, cause you peaked at eighteen cool,” this is definitely a song you can enthusiastically sing along to at parties.

Fun Facts:

Both were raised in Jewish households.

Hoodie attended University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, and while Mac didn’t go to college. His brother Miller just graduated from Penn State.

Mac Miller performed at the Bryce Jordan Center this past spring on his Macadelic College Tour.