Mac Miller in Los Angeles in September. Note the <em>Beats, Rhymes And Life</em> tattoo on his right wrist.G L Askew II for NPRhide caption
"It's liberating to realize you have the freedom to make mistakes. You have the time," says the Pittsburgh rapper, who lifted himself out of a dark period. "Because you're so small."
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Mannie Fresh behind the decks at NPR's Washington, D.C. headquarters.Becky Harlan for NPRhide caption
Microphone Check onstage with Organized Noize in Atlanta. From left to right: Frannie Kelley, Ray Murray, Rico Wade, Sleepy Brown and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Amanda Greene for NPR
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Hank Shocklee, of Public Enemy's production team The Bomb Squad, in Austin, Texas for an interview with Microphone Check.
Mito Habe-Evans/NPR
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Leila Steinberg at a benefit for A.I.M., the organization she founded that produces workshops meant to foster emotional literacy, in 2008.
Brian To/FilmMagic/Getty Images
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The panel at our screening of The Spook Who Sat By The Door (from left to right): Dr. Greg Carr, Jamilah Lemieux, Cedric Shine and K. Nyerere Ture.
Frannie Kelley for NPR
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