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“Stop my time” was the prevailing soundbite during the first ever Total Slaughter battle rap pay-per view. What we should have heard instead was, “stop the show.”

Over the course of three hours, fans were treated to a series of production blunders including live stream failures, sound issues, microphone snafus, a lackadaisical crowd and uninspired performances from the battlers themselves.

There’s a certain feeling that is synonymous with battle rap: It’s grimey, rough, and dangerous. Seeing two battlers backed by their entire crew (and a couple of disinterested women) on stage is compelling. It anchors the moment in reality and also makes for an entertaining watch as we observe reactions. Clearing the stage, Total Slaughter attempted to make it all about the two participants which, while very admirable, hindered the performances. There were no hype men, no people off whom to play lines, and simply no energy.

Arsonal and Big T kicked off the show and Big T proved that his loss against T-Rex was not a fluke, as Arsonal proceeded to pick him apart for three rounds. However, this battle quickly became an afterthought once T-Rex and Daylyt hit the stage. Rex delivered as he had in all previous rounds, but it was Daylyt who stole the show – for all the wrong reasons.

Reverting back to his cartoonish ways, Daylyt showed up to the battle in full Spawn cosplay, and was thoroughly beaten for the first two rounds. In the third and final exchange, Daylyt spit one line: “To come up with this third round, it took a lot of dedication/ See this? This is prescription for my schizophrenia, and as you can see I’m all out of medication.” Daylyt proceeded to crush an empty pill bottle, and tear apart his costume, while screaming inarticulately. The round ended with him stripped down to his boxers, laying on the floor as co-commentator Ebro pleaded for him to, “get the fuck up.” It was more than disappointing to see Daylyt squander such a huge platform with childish antics.

Following that debacle, the crowd was more out of it than ever, and Loaded Lux did not do very much to buoy their spirits. After a promising first round, the crowd sided with Murda Mook and essentially booed Lux out of the venue. It is worth noting, though, that Murda Mook was the (perhaps only) highlight of the event. Three ferocious rounds of bars proved that the old veteran was still a force with which to be reckoned.

The most anticipated battle of the night followed with Joe Budden taking on Hollow Da Don in the main event. The production of the show fell apart at the seams around this time, as the crowd sat through what felt like an eternity of technical delays. The wireless microphones were not even affixed to either competitor prior to them coming to the stage and when they were attached, they did not work properly. In between rounds, Budden and Hollow were in constant discussion of whose sound was working, who should use the handheld mic and more. Host Sway did his best to entertain the crowd during the endless lulls, but to no avail.

Technical difficulties aside, Budden and Hollow delivered a very admirable opening two rounds, with the majority of people awarding both to the underdog, Budden. things fell apart once and for all by the third rounds, though, as Hollow delved into tired Tahiry jokes and tasteless jabs at the Slaughterhouse member’s mother. The crowd was not feeling the direction Hollow went, and the energy evaporated at the Highline Ballroom. Joe Budden, perhaps already feeling the victory, delivered an uninspired and boring round before stumbling and enduring boos from the crowd. Clearly out of his element, the reaction got to Budden and he put the mic down and walked off stage before attempting to come back and finish – but by then it was too late. The judges awarded what felt like a default victory to Hollow and the show ended as awkwardly as it had begun.

There are rumblings of a Total Slaughter 2 and, should that take place, one can only hope it feels less amateurish and disorganized. Live streaming issues are to be expected as it seems no one has that technology down pact, but to fail at mic’ing up emcees is laughably sad. Battle rap needs energy and we felt none of that on Saturday. Next time, bring the crews and bring the bars.

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Mac Miller hasn’t really been in the rap game for very long, but he’s already undergone multiple identity changes. These changes are reflected in his music ( on Watching Movies With the Sound Off , Loaded Lux pokes fun at the changes during an interlude) – and in his lifestyle. Some of these changes were organic, occurring in response to his quickly- blooming career,  but others have been conscious, specifically his adoption of the Larry Fisherman and Larry Lovestein personas. Sitting down with HardKnock TV, Mac broke down the personas and discussed how his life has changed since the grueling Macadelic tour. He also discusses working with Ariana Grande and how having multiple identities is actually quite normal, possibly even necessary. Watch below.

Check out our review of  Watching Movies With the Sound Off here.

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UPDATE: Read our review of Watching Movies With The Sound Off here!

Right now, perhaps more than ever before, Mac Miller is concerned only with being himself. Whatever weird depths of “cool” and “uncool”, socially acceptable and left-field that takes him, he seems happy to ride the waves of his own vibe. With a deliberate lack of fanfare that led the radio host sitting next to us to say “that’s just like Mac“, the star shuffled in front of a smallish movie screen at the West Village’s IFC Center and began to…hum? Mac, more than likely higher than the average human is comfortable being, started the evening off by whisper-singing very close to the mic, before stumbling through a hilariously casual introductory rant. Mac thanked the crowd for attending, light-heartedly mocked a friend or two in attendance, and touched on sharing a release date with Mr. West. “Competition with Kanye is crazy right now,” he sarcastically lamented before adding, more genuinely, “I mean, he’s Yeezus and there ain’t really anything I can do about that.” Shrugging, he continued his ramble, searching for words, admitting that he sucks at doing these kinds of speeches, comically berating himself for the job he was doing with this one, instructing audience members not to speak because “It’s–like–a movie, get it?” and, finally, after the lights were already down, half-standing up from his seat to shout that we should put our phones on silent. With a relaxed and goofy tone set, both Watching Movies With The Sound Off and a film about turtles (more on that later) began to roll.

When listened to in its entirety, WMWTSO shows a Mac Miller who is so far removed from the intentionally relate-able and therefore somewhat bland “Kool-Aid & Frozen Pizza” that he’s barely recognizable as the same rapper. Mac has come a long way from doing his best to show you that he’s “just a motherfuckin’ kid”–this time around he’s out to explore who he is, with you, and because his style and personality are such magnetic blends of the earnest and heartfelt and of the ironic and absurd, Mac should have no problem reaching audiences. The crowd laughed when they were supposed to laugh, and they nodded their heads when they were supposed to nod their heads–the whole time.

The album is noticeably downbeat head-nodder, though, with much of the production featuring spacey synths and keys and big, atmospheric drums, that, around the album’s center, became somewhat repetitive. The other production motif was a strange, creeping organ sound utilized on “Suplexes In Complexes And Duplexes“, which features Jay Electronica, and “SDS“, produced by Flying Lotus. The beats overall are intriguing, stoned, and proved good breeding ground for contemplation. At times, the album felt like Mac was drowning in his own thoughts, and we were watching him from slightly higher up in the endless ocean. The production is rarely exciting in the way “Donald Trump” was; instead, the beats engage on a cerebral level for those who enjoy the less conventional sides of goofy and grand hip-hop.

Mac covers a range of topics and styles in his rhyming and, at the end of the album, singing. Astounding one-liners came in flavors hilarious, biting, and aching. “I’m Kenny Powers, you more of a Debbie Downer”, “Punch a fan if he get a fuckin’ word wrong”, and “Can you please help me find my friend? / I’ll give you anything you need, multiplied by ten” were three of the most memorable. Mac often joked about various sexual escapades or weird activities he enjoys, like walking naked in the garden or hitting your chick in the head with a Nerf ball, but he also sharpened his pen for more serious or scathing subject matter, taking aim at labels and hangers-on to his still-fresh fame.

Mac also often addressed his changing as a person, the fear of losing himself or his way, and the grieving of the friend mentioned in the line above, who is given particular tribute in “REMember”, which incorporates the passed friend’s initials. Mac has developed and honed to his advantage the sleepy, “You just woke me up at 4AM to spit my stellar verse and I’m only half-mad about it” delivery that Earl Sweatshirt (who features on the album) has been using of late. He has also realized the importance of using specifics details and weird references, a sure influence of another WMWTSO collaborator, Action Bronson.

The album was both small, in that it existed entirely within Mac Miller’s increasingly weird consciousness (there are few-to-no comments on any world outside of his own), and gigantic, in the sound of the drums and its sweeping highs and lows, ending on the grand-scale “Euphoria.” To accompany this large-and-small atmosphere, and so those in attendance had something to look at, Mac decided to roll a movie that told the treacherous story of a turtle’s birth, escape of a beach run by crabs, journey through stormy and polluted waters, capture and release by a fisherman, and, ultimately, arrival on new land. Once it was done, Mac stated that he simply played the film because he felt that it fit eerily well with the album, played in its entirety. When we asked Mac for a quick word about the day, he quickly responded, “Fuckin’, weird turtles, bro.”

After the movie ended and the lights rose, the bonus tracks played. Between each leftover cut, Mac rose from his seat to give a bit of background on the song’s origin, and even where the album title and concept came from as a whole. On the topic of bonus track number two, Mac said that when he played WMWTSO for Tyler, The Creator, the OFWGKTA nut-job responded that the album was too sad, and asked if he could make a song that they could laugh on. This resulted in the gross, abrasive, and fun bonus track. (Mac’s verse one line, “I hit it raw while I’m listening to Papoose” got the biggest laugh of a night with quite a few). Most notably, though, Mac told the story of how, on tour with Big Jerm, he began to enjoy watching movies with the sound off, and decided to make an EP of songs that were based on whatever muted flick he was watching at the time. (The only song on the album mentioned to have followed this exact formula is the bonus track, “Goosebumpz” produced by Diplo, which was born during a silent watching of Beetlejuice.) Eventually, the strange concept absorbed more and more ideas, collaborators, inspirations, and became one of 2013’s hip-hop behemoths. Mac seemed, even now, taken aback that his weird little inside joke with Jerm had become what everyone was here for, what everyone else was waiting for.

A particularly telling Mac Miller’s approach these days came when he popped up from his seat after the album had finished, and remarked, astonished, that, hey–we were all still there! As he tells it, at the release party for 2011’s Blue Slide Park, the festivities ended with a drunk Mac congratulating himself to all three of his friends who had remained in the audience. This year, Mac didn’t serve any alcohol: he wanted people to listen. He’s certainly made something worth listening to, something that begs to be focused on. Hopefully he gets the focus he deserves come June 18.

Other miscellaneous highlights:
-A battle rapper that sounded like Loaded Lux performed a hilarious and deceptively brutal Mac Miller diss verse on the intro to “Gees” featuring ScHoolboy Q.
-The Ab-Soul track, “Matches”, is awesome.
–Mac made fun of Statik Selektah, who was in attendance, for being “a celebrity and shit”.
–Action Bronson was also in the audience. He smoked from his G-Pen in the back of the theater, clapped loudly to initiate crowd-wide applause after his guest verse on “Red Dot Music”, and, when the crowd realized it was Bronson that started the clapping, and Bronson noticed their amusement, he said loudly, with self-aware gusto, “Yeah, I’m here.” He also left early.

For your anticipatory enjoyment, here are some snippets of Watching Movies With The Sound Off.

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Revered SmackURL battle rapper Loaded Lux just made his biggest musical move to date, dropping the visuals for “Rite”. Meth and Red, who feature on the track, appear both alongside Lux in a lively outdoor cypher video, and in a few scenes lounging luxuriously. This is perhaps the most high profile track ever by a pure battle rapper, so it’s sure to be huge for that industry; you can catch a glimpse of the founder of Smack at 2:03, and Meth even quotes Loaded Lux’s most iconic line. Without all that context though, the track would still be a monster: the beat bangs, and the energy is unstoppable.

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