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What's the Use? by Mac Miller

What's the Use?

Mac Miller

Hip-HopFunkJazz-Rap Funk
euphoricplayful
0:00/0:00
Interpretation

This track is one of the most purely joyful things Mac Miller ever recorded, and it arrives like a burst of pressurized air. A live band locks into a funk groove that is genuinely hard to sit still through — horns stab and wail, the bass is rubbery and insistent, and the entire production feels like it's sweating. The guest roster turns it into a celebration, trading verses and hooks with an energy that compounds rather than dilutes. Mac's performance here is loose and confident, leaning into absurdist wordplay that showcases how he could pivot between hedonism and wit without losing coherence. Emotionally it's a rare uncomplicated pleasure in his catalog — not naive, but genuinely high-spirited, the sound of someone in a moment of ease. It draws on the P-Funk and early-nineties jazz-rap tradition but carries it forward with contemporary looseness. The lyrics are rooted in excess, but they wear it lightly — there's delight in the extravagance rather than numbness. Reach for this when the afternoon feels open and you want something that will make a room feel larger, looser, more alive.

Attributes
Energy9/10
Valence9/10
Danceability9/10
Acousticness5/10
Tempo

fast

Era

2010s

Sonic Texture

bright, dense, live

Cultural Context

American hip-hop, P-Funk and early-90s jazz-rap tradition

Structured Embedding Text
Hip-Hop, Funk. Jazz-Rap Funk.
euphoric, playful. Explodes with immediate joy and sustains it through collective energy that only builds throughout..
energy 9. fast. danceability 9. valence 9.
vocals: loose confident male rap, witty, high-spirited, absurdist wordplay.
production: live horns, rubbery bass, live drums, P-Funk influenced, layered and sweating.
texture: bright, dense, live. acousticness 5.
era: 2010s. American hip-hop, P-Funk and early-90s jazz-rap tradition.
Open afternoon when you want something that makes a room feel larger and looser.
ID: 144717Track ID: catalog_fed6d411e5a4Catalog Key: whatstheuse|||macmillerAdded: 3/27/2026Cover URL