Mac Miller: On the road, bring the party

In the past couple of years, Cincinnati native DJ Clockwork has toured with two of the brightest stars on the hip-hop circuit: Talib Kweli and 19-year-old Pittsburgh emcee Mac Miller. Clockwork first collaborated with Miller on a four-date tour in 2009 and has been working the turntables for the phenom ever since.

With only a few mixtapes, one EP and his first full-length, "Blue Slide Park," due out Nov. 8, Miller has built a social media empire with an impressive 1.3 million followers on Facebook, meteoric viral videos like "Donald Trump" (29 million YouTube hits and counting) and placed number six on Billboard's "Hottest Minors 2011" list, almost besting Justin Bieber. On Friday, Miller and his trusty DJ stop at Bogart's for The Blue Slide Park Tour, perpetuating Miller Fever in the Midwest. The dynamic duo took a break from a hectic tour schedule to talk about living la vida loca on the road.

How's the tour been going?
Clockwork: It's been really good. It's been actually insane. Each show is like 2,000-3,000 kids. I mean, it's a crazy light show. It's just madness every night.

What's it been like to tour together?
Miller: It's been dope. He's the best party DJ. Whenever we go party, Clock takes over the DJ tables and gets it rowdy.
Clockwork: It's a crazy experience. It's a fun experience, first of all, because we joke every day, all day. It's a learning experience. It's actually the second tour with an artist that I've been on. It's the best job that anybody can have.

How did you and Mac get together?
Clockwork: My manager had a relationship with his manager. They talked back and forth. I'd just got off tour with Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek. I'd just got home. My manager talked to Mac's manager and they were cool and we did a four-city Ohio tour. We did Dayton, Columbus, Lexington -- so Ohio slash Kentucky -- and we did Covington. Each show brought out maybe 300 or 400 kids and this was two years ago. That was our first tour working together. Me and Mac and the whole the crew. We just all connected and we've been working together ever since.
Miller: We just clicked.

Mac, why did you decide on Clockwork for your DJ?
He's a talented DJ. He loves hip-hop, and he likes to have fun. He's a good dude.

What's yours and Clockwork's dynamic like?
Miller: I'm the crazy guy, he gets all the ladies.

Do you like to perform in Cincy?
Miller: Yeah, Cincy always goes hard. Clock gets a lot of hometown love and we always have a good time.

Clock, are you surprised about how much Mac's career has taken off?
Yeah, we've all seen it happening slowly just because we were around him so much. It's to the point now where we go to the shows and people are passing out and girls are trying to knock down the barricade and they stalk the tour bus. It's at that point now where everybody needs security 24/7, which it should be because everybody's worked so hard. I'm not surprised at all. He works super hard. He works harder than most people I know.

Do you have any funny tour anecdotes or anything funny that's happened to you guys lately?
Miller: Ask Clock about pineapples and olives.
Clockwork: All I'm going to say is that it was a trippy night.