Madlib and Mac Miller in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Photo by Egon.

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about a collaborative album that Madlib and Mac Miller supposedly created. Here’s the real story.

What exists is what the two had originally intended – an EP’s worth of music that was supposed to be the start of something. The end point wasn’t planned out or even discussed. The idea was to create for creation’s sake.

The two met after Mac recorded the last verse on Freddie Gibbs’ Piñata album. By early 2015 Mac had batches of Madlib’s beats and was recording songs. The two ate tacos at Eagle Rock’s Cacao Mexicatessen and discussed ideas. Madlib played one of Mac’s tracks in July of 2016 at a European festival and Egon texted Mac to tell him. “Whaaat what song why isn’t there any video evidence!!!” was the reply. Followed by “Let’s do an EP.”

This process continued throughout 2017 as Mac got the latest beat batches, continued recording, and continued his commitment to the project. “I feel like we can create something special,” he texted Egon in August 2017. Meanwhile, Madlib continued playing a song here and there in a festival set, and word would get back to Mac. “My homie sent me a video of one of the joints me and Madlib did that he was spinning,” he texted. “Made me happy.”

And that name, MacLib? Like Jaylib, it was just in the metadata of one of the files he sent over. “MacLib – Number 4” it read. The song still doesn’t have an official title, and there are no official plans to release the EP.