June 18th has become an increasingly anticipated day, originally solely Mac Miller's release date for his upcoming Watching Movies With The Sound Off. Kanye West later announced his own project Yeezus would drop the same day, which then saw J. Cole competitively bumping up his Born Sinner release to make things interesting. Since then most of the talk has been about Yeezy and Cole, unfortunately overshadowing Mac's new effort. Miller talked to Fuse about his feelings on the matter, expressing that while he was initially frustrated, he is now excited about the date.
"It became this huge day, and all I wanted for my album was its own space." said Mac, detailing his early hopes for the release. "I'm just gonna have my own day and no one's gonna be focused on anything besides my album, and that's what i need right now. I need people to just shut up and focus."
"Out of anybody in the world Yeezus is coming." he said of when he first learned he would share the day with Kanye, who he described as being on a different level of superstardom. "When he runs into a pole, everyone freaks out."
Mac remained steady in his decision to drop on the 18th at this point, saying "let me be confident in my music," accepting Yeezy's announcement as something that was meant to happen. "This is the perfect way to do it. This is an omen. There is a reason that this is happening" he told himself.
"Then J. Cole came up with his 'I wanna go against Kanye'" said the rapper. "Maybe he didn't know I was dropping but he didn't want to mention the kid," he said jokingly, but this was only the first of many times Cole and Kanye would be mentioned without him.
"I wanted to run at first" he revealed, and asked other friends in the industry what he should do in the situation. Tyler, The Creator was adamant that he change the date, "You gotta get out. that's Kanye bro, that's the worst person," said Mac, quoting the OF rapper. Miller then called Ab-Soul, who gave him the opposite advice, "he's like 'do that, you got it!'", he said, and later took the TDE emcee's suggestion.
Mac explained how he's now excited about how big a deal June 18th has become, citing that he doesn't "give a fuck about the competition" and is just happy that "everybody is gonna be in the stores and they're gonna buy records again!"
The only thing Mac asks is that his name is mentioned in the conversation. "If this whole hype around the day is helping the promotion, then cool just make sure you include my name in there."
On the recent leak of WMWTSO, Miller ecouraged fans to check out the album before they purchase it. "Listen to the album. It's out there. If you like it, hit the buy button on iTunes or go get the hard copy."
Watch the full interview below.