Mac Miller
Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's local hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of 15. In 2010, he signed a record deal with independent label Rostrum Records and released his breakthrough mixtapes K.I.D.S. (2010) and Best Day Ever (2011). Miller's debut studio album, Blue Slide Park (2011), became the first independently distributed debut album to top the US Billboard 200 since 1995.
Not to be confused with the cross-country skier Mack Miller.
Mac Miller
Malcolm James McCormick
- Delusional Thomas
- Easy Mac
- Larry Fisherman
- Larry Lovestein
- The Velvet Revival
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
September 7, 2018
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Rapper
- singer
- songwriter
- record producer
2007–2018
- Rostrum
- REMember
- Warner Bros.
In 2013, he founded the record label imprint REMember Music. After his second studio album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off (2013), he left Rostrum and signed with the major label Warner Bros. Records in 2014. With them, he released four studio albums: GO:OD AM (2015), The Divine Feminine (2016), Swimming (2018), and the posthumous Circles (2020). For Swimming, he was posthumously nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Along with recording, he also served as a record producer for himself and other artists under the pseudonym Larry Fisherman.
Miller struggled with addiction and substance abuse, which was often referenced in his lyrics.[1] After a relapse, he died from an accidental drug overdose of cocaine, fentanyl, and alcohol at his home at the age of 26.
Life and career
1992–2010: Early life and career beginnings
Malcolm James McCormick was born on January 19, 1992,[2] in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3] He was a son of Karen Meyers, a photographer, and Mark McCormick, an architect,[4] and had an older brother, Miller.[5] His mother is Jewish, and his father is Christian.[6] While he and his brother were raised Jewish,[3][7] he attended a Catholic grade school to "ensure a good education and a chance to play football and lacrosse."[3] He attended Winchester Thurston School for a time[8] but graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School.[9]
A self-taught musician, Miller played piano, guitar, drums, and bass by the age of six.[9][10] He first started rapping at the age of 14.[11] Before that, he wanted to be a singer.[12] In high school, he decided to focus on his rap career, later noting, "Once I hit 15, I got real serious about it and it changed my life completely ... I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties. But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that's all I did."[10]
He originally went by the name Easy Mac (often stylized as EZ Mac) and released his first mixtape But My Mackin' Ain't Easy in 2007 at the age of 15.[2] In 2008, Easy Mac and fellow Pittsburgh-based rapper Beedie formed a rap duo by the name of The Ill Mind, and released a mixtape titled How High. Shortly after the mixtape's release, the two decided to part ways in order to focus on their solo careers.[13] By 2009, he established himself as Mac Miller, and released two mixtapes: The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life.[2] At the 2010 Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards, Miller won 21 & Under of the Year, and Best Hip Hop Video for "Live Free".[14]
Artistry
Musical style and progression
Early in his career, Miller's music was widely regarded as "frat rap", with lyrics focusing on partying, smoking marijuana, and lusting after fame, money, and women.[82][83] After the mixed critical response of Blue Slide Park, Miller began to employ a more expressive and experimental approach to his subsequent releases.[83]
Miller experimented with jazz in his career as well. In 2012, Miller released You, an EP featuring lounge-jazz tracks as Larry Lovestein and the Velvet Revival.[84] Speaking about the Larry Lovestein persona, Miller stated "I've kinda have always had this random fantasy of being a seventy-year-old Lounge Jazz singer."[85]
Toward the latter half of Miller's career, his music further implemented elements of jazz and additionally branched to funk and R&B.[86] Faces incorporated jazz,[87] while The Divine Feminine and Swimming have both been described by music publications as jazz rap.[88] Rolling Stone writer Danny Schwartz also described Swimming as "spanning rap, funk, and trip-hop."[88]
Influences
Miller included Big L, Lauryn Hill, Beastie Boys, Outkast, and A Tribe Called Quest among his influences.[89] He had a close relationship with fellow Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa, saying "Wiz has been a big brother to me with this music thing so far. Our relationship is beyond music. He really is just my homie, whether I will be making music or not."[6] Miller also expressed admiration for John Lennon, he claimed that his background to his iPhone was of Lennon and that he had been a John Lennon fan for a "Long, long, long time".[90] Miller also had multiple tattoos of Lennon, including a tattoo of Lennon's face and a tattoo of John Lennon's song "Imagine".[91]
Date
September 7, 2018
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Accidental drug overdose
1 (Malcolm James McCormick, a.k.a. Mac Miller, aged 26)
- Cameron James Pettit
- Ryan Michael Reavis
- Stephen Andrew Walter
- Conspiring to distribute controlled substances resulting in death
- Distribution of fentanyl resulting in death[106]
Reavis and Walter:
Pleaded guilty to distribution of fentanyl[107]
Reavis:
10 years and 11 months in prison
Walter:
17+1â„2 years in prison[108]
Studio albums