How Mac Miller created Larry Lovestein (and many other personas) to express himself
Meet Larry Lovestein, Larry Fisherman, Larry Dollaz, Delusional Thomas and other aliases of Mac Miller
To talk about Larry Lovestein, we must first talk about Mac Miller.
A great way to do that might be to share the exact moment I started paying attention to his music.
Now, I don’t remember the exact date, but I know I was somewhere in my mid-twenties. I had a full-time job and a part-time study that I was neglecting. At the time, I rented a modest room in Amsterdam-West and shared a pretty nice house with a friend and two other housemates.
If those two other housemates read this, I apologize.
Looking back, I feel we (my friend and I) took a bit too much liberty and often invited other friends to hang out in our kitchen, smoke indoors, drink, and blast music.
And by often, I mean; Every. Weekend.
We had a lot of fun. I mean, I was old enough to know the importance of making responsible choices, yet young enough to do the exact opposite. This night, or should I say early morning, definitely fell in the latter category.
I remember –quite vividly– standing on the balcony, high as a kite, having a cigarette and enjoying the warmth of the early morning sunshine on my face. When I looked up, I noticed a bird flying by.
Now you could argue that this was nothing special and I would agree.
Except when this happened, Mac Miller’s track ‘Avian’ was coming out of the speakers and as I was watching the bird flap his wings with genuine interest, Mac Miller said:
“There's a bird in the sky
Look at him fly, why?”
– Mac Miller
It blew my mind.
And from that moment on, I became a fan of Mac Miller.
Now, before that, I was aware of Mac Miller as an artist but hadn’t truly engaged with his work.
However, once I started to dive in, I discovered an artist who excelled not only in rapping or producing. I found an MC who possessed a unique musicality often mixed with a sense of melancholy.
Mac Miller often would rap about love or heartbreak, enjoying life to the fullest or depression, indulging in drugs, or battling with his addictions. Unfortunately, he died at age 26 from an accidental overdose caused by a combination of cocaine, alcohol, and fentanyl.
During his relatively short lifetime, Mac Miller created lots of music… And not always under the same name.
That’s right, Mac Miller had a knack for aliases and used other personas to create different styles of music or take on completely different personalities.
So, let’s talk about it.
Mac Miller and his Larrys
While rappers often have aliases, Mac Miller seems to take the crown. During his career, Mac Miller has released many projects (or made online accounts) under many different names.
And Larry Lovestein isn’t the only Larry character Mac Miller created. In fact, there are three of them. So without further ado, let’s meet the Larrys.
Larry Fisherman (producer)
Larry Fisherman might be Mac Miller’s most famous and productive Alias. He produced many tracks and even released full projects.
Next to getting production credits for a lot of tracks on Mac Miller projects, Larry Fisherman released two solo instrumental projects (Running on Sentences Vol 1. and Running on Sentences Vol 2.), created a collaborative mixtape with Vince Staples titled Stolen Youth, and produced tracks for many other major artists, such as SZA, JID, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt.
In an episode of his MTV documentary show ‘Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family’, he shares the backstory of this fictional character.
“Larry Fisherman, he’s the quiet type. He had a family that he used to provide for with fish. He was a professional fisherman, commercially. And then the sushi business really took off and he wasn’t catching the right fish for sushi. So, he had to turn to making beats.” – Mac Miller on MTV’s Mac Miller & The Most Dope Family episode
While this sounds fun, the actual creation of this Larry –which must’ve been the first– actually had a bit more of a practical reason.
One day, after leaving a recording session at a studio in LA, Mac Miller realized he forgot to bring his hard drive to save his recordings on. So, he had to save his files temporarily on the studio’s (public) computer.
To avoid people finding (and potentially using or leaking) his recordings, he needed the folder containing the files to look as uninteresting as possible.
“So, I tried to pick a really unassuming name, like who, if you’re scrolling through, would you NOT think was anything. What can I pick? And I was like…Larry Fisherman. And if there’s any Larry’s here, I apologize, but you don’t see the name Larry and go…’What is that?! I need to check out the Larry folder!’” – Mac Miller, Hot1035Radio interview.
Larry Dollaz (producer and rapper)
Larry Dollaz is a lot less known, as Mac never released too much under this alias. But who knows what the future may have brought if Mac was still alive?
So who was he? Mac broke it down:
“And then there’s Larry Dollaz, He’s incarcerated. He has a really rough past and, you know, he’s trying to become a contributing member of society through music. And we’re just praying he gets out before Ja-rule.”– Mac Miller on MTV’s Mac Miller & The Most Dope Family episode
This character never released a full project of its own, let alone many tracks. However, there is a Larry Dollaz song featuring Mac Miller and Schoolboy Q called PlaneCarBoat.
Also, Larry Dollaz, created a comic “The Adventures of PlaneCarBoat to explain the origin story of PlaneCarBoat. Which Mac Miller added as a Genius.com annotation.
Spoiler alert: A plane, a boat, and a car ended up doing a threesome while R. Kelly music played in the background and as a result, PlaneCarBoat was conceived.
Larry Lovestein
Now on to this article’s main event: Larry Lovestein.
According to Mac:
“Larry Lovestein sees a bit of love in everyone. He represents free love and the beauty of that, and just the mystery of love, and how much love is an important part of life.“– Mac Miller on MTV’s Mac Miller & The Most Dope Family episode
In that same MTV episode, Larry Lovestein sat down with Mac Miller in the studio when the two of them were working together.
“I bring Jazz, or jazz with a soft j” - Larry Lovestein
Stuff like this shows the amount of fun and goofing around Mac Miller had with his creativity. Not everything has to be so serious all the time. And while some might say the drugs had something to do with it, I think that would be a bit dismissive of his creativity.
While Mac Miller had a lot of fun creating these characters, the quality of the output spoke volumes. For example, his Larry Lovestein project ‘You’ charted at No. 16 on the US Jazz charts.
I came across this dope article by Medium author Francesca, and in my opinion, she described the project beautifully:
“In the short 5-track project, Miller divulges into a symphony of mesmerizing jazz music. The way he uses his voice changes too, being more in line with singing rather than rapping. I, being fond of multi-faceted and experimental rappers such as Childish Gambino, loved the shift in his style and voice for these songs. Written and produced entirely by Miller, this unfiltered jazz EP highlights his creative experimentalism and flair for the avant-garde.”
In another video I found, (which has since been taken down, so I can’t link to the source) Mac Miller was asked about the creation of the jazz project to which he said, and this time in all seriousness:
“I do music. I'm more than just a rapper. Like, I play guitar, I play piano, I play drums, I play bass. So the jazz project was literally me like, I need to do something else. Like, I need to just switch it up. Like, I'm gonna just do a F* jazz project, like whatever.” – Mac Miller
If we look at his coming up, Mac was a self-taught musician who learned how to play all these instruments at a very young age. Before he started to pursue a rap career at age 15, he originally wanted to become a singer. Understanding this, I think this project freed him creatively. As many of the projects that came after this, had Mac Miller singing a lot more than in his earlier work.
Last year, as a limited edition Vinyl release, ‘Larry Lovestein and the Velvet Revival - You’ received its first-ever physical release as it was pressed on gold vinyl. I’m very happy to own one of the total 7.500 copies, as it is impossible to get your hands on now (for a normal price).
The one-night-only performance
When it was released online in 2012, the ‘You’ EP didn’t have a full-blown tour or exposure. However, it did come with a one-night-only performance at LA’s famous Baked Potato Jazz Club.
What’s really cool for the collector in me, is that the 2023 vinyl release of You included a promotional poster for that event.
My favorite track: Suspicions
The vibe of this track is banging and super-mellow at the same time, and I think this is a perfect example of how it sounds when Mac Miller feels free enough to sing.
The track “Suspicions” is about Larry not wanting to believe that he’s losing his girl. Like any good comedy, this is funny and sad at the same time. Funny as this character is filled with love and confidence, and literally exists to share nothing but love, but sad because the person he loves doesn’t want him or his love.
“If love is the feeling that got you afraid
Then maybe it's time you start walkin' away
Your beauty like something I saw in a painting, amazing
The world never seen somethin' like you” – Larry Lovestein
Other aliases of Mac Miller
In the beginning, I told you how Mac had many aliases, and they’re not all Larrys.
Mac’s aliases come from not wanting to be boxed in as a single brand and experimenting with other identities to take on different styles.
“I just like creating characters. We’re all complex and we’re all made up of more than one dimension. And the thing about this place that art lives in is that people get these labels. You brand yourself and have to stick to one brand, which I fucking hate. Like, human beings are more complex than just one simple brand.” –Mac Miller, Vice interview
So what are some of these other personas?
Delusional Thomas
Where the Larrys are generally more light-hearted, Delusional Thomas is Mac Miller’s dark side. The character raps about murder, violence, and chaos over unsettling beats. Next to this, Delusional Thomas has a high-pitched voice.
In an interview, Mac explained: “I feel like that evil voice inside your head is always kind of in that pitch.”
The above track. Grandpa Used To Carry A Flask is an example of Mac’s different personas on steroids, as it’s a track by Delusional Thomas, featuring Mac Miller, and produced by Larry Fisherman.
Parson Brown
The name Parson Brown comes from the classic Christmas ‘Winter Wonderland’ song.
The lyrics mention Parson Brown as the name of a snowman.
“In the meadow, we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown.”
Many have speculated about Parson Brown's identity, but history shows that there was no notable figure by that name in the 20th century. So, it seems the lyricist simply chose a name that fit the lyrics.
As a result, Parson Brown is a mysterious character without any real identity. Fans speculate that Mac’s Parson Brown persona is based on that because he said:
“I kind of like the idea of not having an identity at all, and just like floating in throughout different things and not having to be the guy that gives you one particular thing. I kind of like that.” – Mac Miller, DX interview
A few months before Mac Miller passed away, he had started a Twitter account under the name of Parson Brown and mentioned how he produced two Mac Miller songs, Dunno and Buttons.
He also said that he had more things coming, but due to his death 3 months later, we may never find out what that was.
Other non-music-related aliases
Next to these music-related personas, fans have discovered other accounts under different aliases of Mac.
Lars (@Cloudywithachanceofawesome69)
Mac Miller had a secret Instagram page (@Cloudywithachanceofawesome69) where he called himself Lars, wore a hoodie, and posted ridiculous vape tricks such as “the Kaluha” (spitting out coffee) and “Chefboy RD” (launching cherry tomatoes from his nose).
Luther Huckelbee
Luther Huckelbee is a Youtube account with only two videos, and it’s Mac Miller in his room staring at the camera and using very shitty special effects while listening to music.
One is him lip-syncing Al Green’s ‘Stay Together’, and the other is him inactively smoking, drinking, and staring at the camera while listening to the very active song Harlem Shake.
In conclusion
Mac Miller had a lot more to offer than the Mac Miller brand, sadly we will never hear new Larry projects, or meet other characters he may have come up with.
But who knows, there might still be some social media accounts of other unknown aliases scattered across the internet waiting to be discovered.
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