Mac Miller Praises Jay Electronica, Talks Recording With Friends

One of the most anticipated contributions to Mac Miller’s sophomore studio album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, is that of Jay Electronica.

Miller spoke about Jay Elec, who’s featured on the cut “Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes,” in an interview with Nahright.com.

“Jay Electronica may or may not be a real person,” said Miller. “He might be just an energy. He might be invisible. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s just a spirit. We all have a little Jay Electronica.”

Mac explained that Electronica barely got the cut in on time. “He sent me the verse two hours before I went in to master it. The album was done, and I was like, ‘Bro, the album is done. Tell me now if you’re gonna do this. No hard feelings if you can’t, I completely understand.’ He was like, ‘I promise you.’ And he would be sending me texts just randomly throughout the whole album process, like, ‘Don’t turn your album in without me.’ The whole time, we’d been talking about doing this record.”

Ultimately, though, the reclusive emcee came through for Miller. “It was dope because, I sent him a couple options. Three tracks. And the one that I produced, he picked that one, which is just a simple canvas. But it’s crazy. He was like, ‘I got you, I promise.’ Then, he sent me an email, with the lyrics he was about to spit. I was like, ‘This verse is about to be insane!’ It was very interesting, and artistically punctuated. The punctuation in the email was crazy. Next level. Then, he sent the verse [as I was] basically on my way to mastering. I got it just in time.”

“I knew he would, though. I’ve waited on verses from people that didn’t send them, and I always had that feeling like, ‘He’s not gonna send it,’” admitted Mac. “But I always had that feeling with him like, ‘He’s gonna send it.’ And he did. It was the same thing with [Lil] Wayne on Macadelic, because Wayne fit the vibe of that project perfectly. And that’s kind of like Jay Electronica with this project.”

Mac also spoke about collaborating with friends such as Action Bronson, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and others, which makes for an organic, rather than planned, recording process. “The idea is that we’re all friends, so it’s not like, ‘This is for my album.’ We just make songs to make songs, and they end up on the album or not. But the most important thing is that we all have our different worlds that we live in as artists.”

“The key is to not bring someone to your world, and not go to their world, but to combine both worlds and make something that doesn’t exist yet. That’s what a true collaboration is,” he added.

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