We can spend a lifetime pondering the depths of our existence, bogged down by the

crippling weight of the human condition, repeatedly asking what's the use?

What's the point to all of this? But we could also just get on with our lives. We can move.

From Spotify, I'm Cole Kushna and this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes.

Today we continue our serialized examination of Mac Miller swimming with what's the use.

A track that shows us that sometimes the best way out of a funk is with a little funk. So, Of all the songs on swimming, what's the use features the most eclectic assembly of musicians,

including producers Pomo, Dame Funk, and Mac himself, a baseline of vocals by Thundercat and additional vocals by Sid from the internet and hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg.

According to Mac, the song began with a few chords on keyboard and a drumbeat produced by Pomo.

Pomo is the man. He came over, you're just jamming like I'm trying out some things on the keys, he's doing drums, he like makes my cords better, whatever, however it happened, And then we actually put it to the side,

and then Thundercat came over that night,

and I was like, wait, could you try a baseline?

Swear to God that that was the first thing he played, like not even checking the notes, but he literally picked up the base and that was the like just the first thing he naturally did. Impeckable in its fluid syncopation,

Thunder Cat's baseline is almost symphonic in its wide-ranging melodic contours.

Notice how it begins with a few simple low notes, then unfolds with more complexity as it reaches higher and higher. The bass line is so catchy and complete on its own that when Mack enters with the hook

his vocals are going to essentially just mirror the base.

And with the addition of Thundercats baseline, it seems Mac and his team decided to lean fully

into the funk, enlisting producer Dame Funk to lay down some synth lines. synth. Dame Funk is a legendary G-Funk producer, a hip-hop sub-genre that emerged in the 1990s.

It's clear that what's to use is at least in part an homage to this sound.

A hallmark of G-Funk is prominent bouncing baselines like we hear in Snoop Dogg's 1993 hit,

Who Am I? What's My name? Also common in G-Funk is the use of Saaway synthesizers with heavy verbroto and

glissando which we can hear in Snoop and Dr. Dre's 1992 hit

nothing but a G-thing.

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