''Blue Slide Park'' is the debut studio album by American rapper
Mac Miller
Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...
. It was released on November 8, 2011, by
Rostrum Records
Rostrum Records is an American independent record label initially located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now located in Los Angeles, California. Benjy Grinberg is the founder and president of the label, which currently has twelve artists on its ros ...
. The album is named after a section of
Frick Park
Frick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, covering . It is one of Pittsburgh's four historic large parks.
History
The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayto ...
(known as "Blue Slide Park") in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, near where Miller lived. Much of the production was handled by
ID Labs ID Labs (stylized as "I.D. Labs") is a commercial recording studio and production facility, opened in 2003, owned and operated by Pittsburgh-based producer, E. Dan. The engineer and producer team, composed of Jeremy "Big Jerm" Kulousek, Eric "E. Da ...
, and the album has no guest appearances.
Despite ''Blue Slide Park'' receiving mixed reviews from critics, it debuted at number one on the US
''Billboard'' 200 with 144,000 sales, making it the first independently-distributed debut album to top the chart since 1995.
Background and release
On July 5, 2011,
Mac Miller
Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...
announced ''Blue Slide Park'' on his
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel. The tracks "Smile Back" and "Blue Slide Park" were released as non-singles on September 23 and October 13, respectively.
The latter track was released to commemorate the album surpassing 25,000 pre-orders.
The
album cover
An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...
art was designed by his older brother, Miller McCormick. ''Blue Slide Park'' was released by
Rostrum Records
Rostrum Records is an American independent record label initially located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now located in Los Angeles, California. Benjy Grinberg is the founder and president of the label, which currently has twelve artists on its ros ...
on November 8, 2011.
Singles
The album's first single, "
Frick Park Market
"Frick Park Market" is a song by American hip hop recording independent artist Mac Miller. It serves as the lead single from his debut album ''Blue Slide Park.'' It was released digitally on August 18, 2011 along with an accompanying music vid ...
", was produced by
ID Labs ID Labs (stylized as "I.D. Labs") is a commercial recording studio and production facility, opened in 2003, owned and operated by Pittsburgh-based producer, E. Dan. The engineer and producer team, composed of Jeremy "Big Jerm" Kulousek, Eric "E. Da ...
, and released alongside an accompanying
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
on August 18, 2011. The song peaked at number 60 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. At the time, it was Miller's highest charting single, surpassing "
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
", which charted at number 75.
The second single, "
Party on Fifth Ave.
"Party on Fifth Ave." is a song by American hip hop artist Mac Miller, and the second single from his debut album ''Blue Slide Park''. The I.D. Labs-produced track was released digitally on October 28, 2011 along with an accompanying music vid ...
", also produced by ID Labs, was released on October 28, 2011, with an accompanying music video. The song debuted at number 64 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.
"Up All Night" was released as the third single digitally via
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
on November 15, 2011. The song peaked at number 23 on the ''Billboard''
Bubbling Under Hot 100
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...
chart.
Critical reception
''Blue Slide Park'' received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, a site that calculates an aggregate score based on a number of professional reviews, the album has received a score of 58/100 (based on 12 articles) which indicates "mixed or average reviews".
Jon Garcia of AllHipHop.com gave the album a rating of 6.5 out of 10, criticising the production and claiming that "it's as if he hasn't found his sound yet".
''
XXL'' viewed the album's production more positively, but noted that Miller still has "room to evolve".
Jordan Sargent of ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' gave the album a 1.0 out of 10 rating, and wrote "Miller's world is a hermetic one, and unless it's one you inhabit, the album holds no appeal", and "he's mostly just a crushingly bland, more intolerable version of
Wiz Khalifa
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 200 ...
".
Commercial performance
''Blue Slide Park'' debuted at number one on the US
''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 144,000 copies in its first week, making it the first independently-distributed debut album to top the chart since
Tha Dogg Pound
Tha Dogg Pound is an American hip hop duo made up of rappers Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. They were signed to Death Row Records in their early careers and were key to the label's success.
Kurupt and Daz went on to release solo albums starting in ...
's ''
Dogg Food
''Dogg Food'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Tha Dogg Pound, released on Halloween 1995. Its controversial lyrics were the subject of shareholder protest. The album was supposed to be released in July 1995, but as a result of t ...
'' (1995). In its second week, the album fell to number 24 with 25,000 sales, one of the
largest drops from number one at the time. Despite not being released as a single, the track "Smile Back" became Miller's highest-charting song at the time, reaching number 55 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart dated November 26, 2011.
As of August 2012, the album has sold 344,000 copies.
On May 14, 2018, the album was certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for combined sales and streams in excess of 500,000 units in the United States.
''Blue Slide Park'' earned 12,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s in the week following Miller's death on September 7, 2018, allowing the album to re-enter the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 49.
In Canada, the album debuted at number eight on the
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocea ...
.
On December 18, 2012, the album was certified gold by
Music Canada
Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...
(MC) for shipments exceeding 40,000 units in Canada.
Track listing
Credits adapted from
Tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
.
Tour
Europe – The Incredibly Dope Tour
Miller toured Europe in early September 2011 to promote the album. The United Kingdom leg of The Incredibly Dope Tour ran from September 1 to 4, making up four dates in London,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, Birmingham, and
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. The tour also extended to mainland Europe, beginning in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
on September 6. Two dates in Paris were also announced, as well as
Opwijk
Opwijk () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Mazenzele and Opwijk proper. On January 1, 2012, Opwijk had a total population of 13,990. The total area is 19.69 km² whi ...
before Mac's return to the United States to perform at the 2011 edition of
Rock the Bells
Rock the Bells was an annual hip-hop festival that originally took place in Southern California only, but has since toured throughout the world. The concert featured a line-up of high-profile alternative hip-hop artists, often headlined by a mor ...
in Boston. Later dates also saw Miller performing in Germany, and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
.
He also performed at The National and other famous venues.
United States – Blue Slide Park Tour
Miller's tour of the United States ran from September to December 2011. The Blue Slide Park Tour began on September 22, 2011, at the
Irving Plaza
Irving Plaza (known through sponsorship as Irving Plaza, powered by Klipsch and formerly known as the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) is a ballroom-style music venue located within the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City. The final date was on December 9, with Miller performing in his hometown of
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
Mac Miller albums
2011 debut albums
Rostrum Records albums
Albums produced by Mac Miller