Mac Miller’s Watching Movies with the Sound Off turned 10 years old last week and his estate has now officially released a fan-favorite outtake from the album’s recording sessions.
The Pittsburg native’s sophomore LP opens with “The Star Room,” but an alternate interpretation of the track has been making the rounds online in recent years, with many even calling it better than the final cut.
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With that said, the OG Version of the song has finally been granted a legitimate release in the public domain as part of the 10th-anniversary re-release of Watching Movies with the Sound Off.
In addition to the previously unreleased track and three bonus songs on top of the original 16 tracks, a vinyl-only exclusive joint has been released called “The Quest.”
Watch the video for “The Star Room (OG Version)” below:
“The video depicts the journey of an open-minded character as they navigate the world, discovering and evolving along the way,” the video’s director Danae Gosset said in a press release. “I had the privilege of collaborating with the incredibly talented Sam Mason [director of Miller’s “Colors and Shapes” video], who designed the characters for the video.”
Regarding the imagery, she added: “The storyline begins and ends with a candid embryo-like character, showcasing their growth and transformation through diverse landscapes and encounters. My goal was to capture the essence of a transformative journey while maintaining a childlike curiosity towards exploring different worlds.”
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“To bring the video to life, we meticulously crafted a hand made layered collage-like technique,” Gosset explained about the creative process behind making the video. “We employed a diverse range of physical mediums such as paint, color pencils, gouache, and more.
“The production involved a combination of 3D animation, 2D animation, footage integration, and VFX, all working together to support a surrealist vision through a handmade vivid, textural, and colorful world.”
Watching Movies with the Sound Off fulfilled Mac Miller’s departure from frat rap and marked the beginning of his rapid growth to globally-celebrated artist. Over subsequent years, he would release some of his most noteworthy projects and 2013 was approximately when his shift in perspective first became apparent.
Earlier this month, the late rapper’s final studio album before his death, Swimming, was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), commemorating two million units sold in the U.S.
Two years prior, in February 2021, the project was certified platinum for the first time, making it Mac’s first body of work to reach that status.
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Additionally, “Self Care” from the same album has also been certified 5x platinum. This is another milestone for the Most Dope MC, whose highest-certified song until recently was the 4x platinum Miguel collaboration, “Weekend,” from 2015’s GO:OD AM.
Blue Slide Park (2011), Watching Movies with the Sound Off (2013), GO:OD AM (2015) and the posthumous Circles (2020) are all currently gold records.
