Thundercat (born Stephen Bruner) was born into a family of musicians. His father, Ronald, was a drummer for Diana Ross and the Temptations. His older brother, Ronald Jr., took after his father’s namesake and drummed for the crossover thrash metal band Suicidal Tendencies. Stephen joined the band shortly after his brother and began to build out one of the most illustrious resumes in the music industry. But if you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t notice the seemingly regular dude with an affinity for video games, Twitter humor, and gurgling bass lines.

Soon after a stint as standing bassist at esteemed Silver Lake studio in Los Angeles, heavyweights began to take notice. Erykah Badu nabbed him for her New Amerykah studio sessions. Flying Lotus commissioned him as his “ace in a hole” for the acclaimed Cosmogramma and signed him to his Brainfeeder record label. Kendrick Lamar placed him at the center of his generational To Pimp a Butterfly.

It Is What It Is, the fourth studio album by Bruner, sees the relatable yet one-of-a-kind musician struggle with existential dread and the fallout of loved ones leaving us far sooner than we expected. Namely, his best friend and frequent collaborator Mac Miller, who passed suddenly at the age of 26 in September of 2018. Bruner contributed to Miller’s last two companion projects, Swimming and Circles. He was all set to support Mac on his Swimming Tour when the music world came to a screeching halt upon his tragic passing.

It seemed that nearly everyone who knew Miller in some capacity was impacted by his passing. But Bruner and he had a special connection, as evidenced by a series of tweets on what would have been Miller’s 27th birthday in early 2019. It’s visible when Mac turns around to look at Bruner during his NPR Tiny Desk Concert to promote Swimming. They share smiles (see below) so genuine that what should be a beautiful moment between two dear friends becomes gut-wrenching as you start to imagine, or relate to, the feeling of having someone you love snatched away from you before you can say goodbye.

Such is the basis of It Is What It Is; a funky, funny, and beautifully sad record looking for answers to a few cold and lonely questions: Is this real? Am I alone? Is anybody there? You can almost picture Bruner, wide-eyed, starting at his palms and slowly rotating his hands as he questions his own existence in the opener, “Lost In Space / Great Scott / 22-26”.

Ironically, this sets the stage for an energetic, lively and dynamic front half of the album in which Bruner does a “happy” dance, professes his love for Louis Cole (with Louis Cole), receives oral sex while in first-class on an airplane, and woos women in a Dragon Ball Z durag. These songs are free-wheeling and fun, but if you listen closely, you get glimpses of the dread that is to come on the records back half. On “Miguel’s Happy Dance”, he instructs the listener to “do the fuckin’ dance even if you start to cry”. Not quite the no-worries anthem it may feel like if you aren’t paying attention.

At around the album’s midpoint, it takes a dark turn. Bruner comes to grips with the fact that the dancing, flexing and strumming he’s doing in the first handful of songs are out of starvation for human connection. He realizes that although he’s the “King of the Hill”, he feels isolated at the top. Though moody and effective, the back half of the album comes with what may be the record’s only misstep in “Fair Chance”. A good-not-great duet from Bruner and LA’s own Ty Dolla $ign gives way to an awkward and grating Lil B verse that doesn’t fit snugly into the pretty strings that accent the instrumental.

Throughout the album, lyrical tidbits give the indication that this album was made in honor of a certain lost loved one. A “GO:OD AM” reference on album highlight “I Love Louis Cole”; Ty Dolla $ign points to Swimming’s central theme of keeping your head above water. As the album ends, Bruner confirms this theory when he greets his lost friend with a simple “Hey Mac”. Brunner and Flying Lotus then delve into an instrumental breakdown that bursts at the seams with emotion. As the sound fades, Thundercat’s answers to his unanswerable questions are still unclear, but less necessary too. It just is what it is.

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Thundercat and Mac Miller from NPR Tiny Desk Concert