Admittedly, I’m a little tardy to the Mac Miller party, and skepticism reigned at first. A 19-year-old white suburban kid who’s idolized by college students? He has a line that refers to cream cheese on a bagel? This usually ends in constant mockery and a short career. Who is this “Asher Roth” you speak of?

I could very well be wrong, but there’s a little more “substance” to Mac Miller than the weed that he regularly raps about (compelling subject matter, right?) and his uncomfortable adoration of snap-backs. Sure, he uses the words “ill” and “swag” to describe everything from sweatpants to his burgeoning fan-base, but he’s not blind to the rest of the music world. He frequently name-drops The Beatles’ John Lennon in his verses, and his Twitter account (@MacMiller) shows his affinity for music vastly different than his own: the Black Keys, the Postal Service and A Tribe Called Quest, to name a few.

Both Miller and Wiz Khalifa hail from Pittsburgh’s largest urban high school, Taylor Allderdice, and accordingly, Miller has become widely known as Wiz’s protege. In the Hip-Hop World interview below, Miller expands on his relationship with star that brought us “Black and Yellow” last year.

Two months ago, Miller packed Rapids Theater one night after selling out Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall. buffaBLOG, a group of local music aficionados, was surprisingly positive about Miller’s rise to stardom, praising his musical ability rather than damning his rather unrefined, unconventional image.

In March, After Dark Entertainment scrambled to find a bigger venue than Mohawk Place to stage Miller’s show—Club Infinity was the logical switch, although YouTube commenter FunkyWorld2000 warns: “was there to… mac miller glad i got to see you at a small ass event cuz the next time u come through shits guna be at HSBC.”

He even makes Owl City’s “Fireflies” sound tolerable, right?

“Smile back” is currently Miller’s biggest hit off his November album “Blue Slide Park,” and it’s garnered over 10 million YouTube views.

Can Mac Miller sustain his rather unfathomable popularity? We’ll see, but he’s certainly defied odds so far.