Mac Miller

Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 - September 7, 2018), known professionally
as Mac Miller, was an American rapper, singer, and record producer.
In 2010, he signed a record deal with Pittsburgh-based indie record label Rostrum
Records. He subsequently began recording his debut studio album Blue Slide Park, and
released it on November 8, 2011. The album went on to debut at number one on the U.S.
Billboard 200 chart, making it the first independently distributed debut album to top the
chart since Tha Dogg Pound's 1995 album, Dogg Food.
In early 2013, Miller launched REMember Music, his own record label imprint, named after
a friend who died. Miller's second album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, was
released on June 18, 2013. In January 2014, Miller announced he was no longer signed to
Rostrum Records. In October 2014, it was reported Miller signed a record deal for him and
his label REMember, with Warner Bros. Records. He also served as a record producer
under the pseudonym Larry Fisherman, producing music for SZA, Vince Staples, Lil B, Ab-
Soul, Riff Raff, Smoke DZA, and himself.

Malcolm James McCormick was born on January 19, 1992, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
the son of Karen Meyers, a photographer, and Mark McCormick, an architect. His father is
Christian, and his mother is Jewish. Miller was raised Jewish, had a Bar Mitzvah, and
celebrated the Jewish High Holy Days. Because of his religion, he described himself as
"the coolest Jewish rapper", in a rival response to Drake's own claim to be "the best Jew in
the Rap game". He was raised in the Point Breeze part of Pittsburgh. Miller attended
Winchester Thurston School and Taylor Allderdice High School. He began piano lessons
at age 6. In high school, Miller decided to focus on his hip hop 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." Miller, a self-taught musician, played piano, guitar, drums,
and bass.

Miller first started rapping at the age of fourteen. Before that, he wanted to be a singer.
Prior to changing his name to Mac Miller, he was known as EZ Mac and released the
mixtape But My Mackin' Ain't Easy in 2007 at the age of fifteen. Miller was also part of rap
group The Ill Spoken together with fellow Pittsburgh rapper, Beedie. The Ill Spoken
released the mixtape How High in 2008. In 2009 Miller released two mixtapes The
Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life before getting signed to Rostrum
Records. In 2009 at age 17, he made it to the final four in Rhyme Calisthenics, the MC
competition at Shadow Lounge.
In early 2010, Miller signed with Rostrum Records. Rostrum president Benjy Grinberg met
Miller while recording with Wiz Khalifa at ID Labs. Although Grinberg started giving Miller
advice, he didn't show any interest in getting involved with his career until the artist began
work on the K.I.D.S. mixtape, when, as he later told HitQuarters, Grinberg "noticed a
maturation in his sound and approach to his music." By that point Miller had started
attracting interest from different record companies but chose Rostrum due to its location in
his hometown and association with Wiz Khalifa. K.I.D.S. was released by the label in
August 2010. The mixtape was inspired by the movie Kids. A significant breakthrough
came in late 2010 when Miller embarked on his first tour, the Incredibly Dope Tour, selling
out every location. In 2010, he won two awards at the Pittsburgh hip hop awards.

Miller's fifth release was the mixtape Best Day Ever, featuring the single "Donald Trump"
and hit songs "Wear My Hat" and "All Around the World". The mixtape featured
mainstream producers such as Just Blaze, 9th Wonder and Chuck Inglish of The Cool
Kids. On November 22, 2010, his first single, "Knock Knock", premiered its video on
YouTube. On March 29, 2011, he released an EP called On and On and Beyond. The six-
track work was produced by Rostrum Records.
Miller announced the title of his first album, Blue Slide Park, on his YouTube channel on
July 5, 2011, set for a fall release. In September 2011 it was revealed that Miller would
release a mixtape titled 92 Til Infinity hosted by DJ Jazzy Jeff prior to the release of Blue
Slide Park. However, the release did not happen, and it was since then left in planning.
Miller featured on Maroon 5's remix of their hit song "Moves Like Jagger".
Miller released a 13-song mixtape called I Love Life, Thank You, featuring Sir Michael
Rocks of The Cool Kids, Talib Kweli and Bun B, on October 14, 2011.

In November 2011, Blue Slide Park debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with first
week sales of 144,000 copies. This was the first independently distributed debut to take
the number one spot on the Billboard albums chart since Tha Dogg Pound's 1995 release
Dogg Food. In 2011, Miller was one of eleven rappers featured in XXL magazine's annual
"Freshman Class" list of that year. In 2011, his first TV appearance took place in the VH1
show Single Ladies; he played a fictionalized version of himself that succeeded in selling
one of his mixtapes to one of the main characters. Also in 2011, he was a part of MTV
Jams Fab Five artists.

Miller uploaded a trailer on YouTube for his long-anticipated music video "Missed Calls" on
February 15, 2012. It was released on his official YouTube channel on June 22, 2012. On
March 23, 2012, Miller released his seventh mixtape called Macadelic. He released "Loud"
as a single from the mixtape. "Loud" peaked at number 53 on the US Billboard Hot 100
chart. Miller also released a video for "Thoughts From A Balcony". In June 2012 Miller
premiered the song "Onaroll" available on YouTube. "Onaroll" is performed by Miller and
produced by Pharrell Williams, from a future collaboration EP titled Pink Slime. On August
7, 2012, Miller released a further single from Pink Slime, "Glow", available for free
download. On September 1, Miller released another free song called "PlaneCarBoat"
which features West Coast rapper Schoolboy Q and was produced by himself.

Miller released an iTunes-exclusive EP entitled You under the name Larry Lovestein & The
Velvet Revival on November 21. Rather than rap, the EP features Miller crooning over
lounging jazz instrumentals.

On October 14, Miller announced Pink Slime would be released before the end of 2012
and that his second album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, will be released in early
2013. Watching Movies With the Sound Off is set to feature guest appearances from
Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler, the Creator, Action Bronson and Jay
Electronica. When speaking of the album Miller said that it is "very introspective and very
personal so it's kind of throwing it all out there and seeing what happens."
He also announced his plans to finally release 92 Til Infinity with DJ Jazzy Jeff in early
2013 prior to his release. Miller was featured on a six-episode reality series titled Mac
Miller and the Most Dope Family on MTV2. It featured the production of Watching Movies
With the Sounds Off and premiered on February 26, 2013. The first trailer was released on
January 20, 2013.

On March 4, 2013, Miller released a new mixtape solely featuring instrumentals made by
Miller titled, Run-On Sentences Vol. 1 under his production alias "Larry Fisherman". On
March 9, he would announce the first single from Watching Movies with the Sound Off to
be "Somebody Do Somethin'" and to release soon. He premiered a snippet of the song of
the second episode of his reality show. On May 2, 2013, he announced via UStream and
Twitter that Watching Movies with the Sound Off would be released on, June 18, 2013.
The album was met with generally positive reviews upon its release, with most critics
praising his new psychedelic sound. The album also received commercial success
debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 101,000 copies in its first
week. The album spawned three singles; "S.D.S.", "Watching Movies" and "Goosebumpz".

Miller founded REMember Music, his own record label imprint in early 2013, named after a
friend who died. He also fully produced Odd Future affiliate Vince Staples' mixtape, Stolen
Youth. During October 2013, Miller toured Europe with fellow rappers Lil Wayne and 2
Chainz. On October 31, 2013, Miller released a new self-produced mixtape named
Delusional Thomas. On December 17, 2013, Miller released his first live album, Live from
Space. Following that, he plans to begin working with Pharrell again on their collaboration
EP Pink Slime to be released during 2014. He was also working on four separate projects,
and had done at least seven songs on each. He told MTV that they included his solo "Mac
Miller album", and it had come together by accident.

Miller announced on January 14, 2014, he was no longer signed to Rostrum Records. On
May 11, 2014, Miller independently released his tenth solo mixtape, Faces. On October
21, 2014, it was revealed Miller signed a recording contract and a distribution deal for his
label REMember Music, with Warner Bros. Records, for a reported $10 million. The
second season to Miller's MTV2 reality series Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family was
also released in 2014. On July 30, 2015, Miller revealed that he had completed his third
studio album, which will be his major label debut. On August 5, 2015, Miller revealed his
album title to be GO:OD AM with a release date of September 18, 2015, and that a music
video for the first single "100 Grandkids" would drop August 6.

Miller announced his fourth album, The Divine Feminine, on July 28, 2016, and debuted its
first single, "Dang!", featuring guest vocals from Anderson Paak. The album was released
on September 16. Miller released "Small Worlds", the first single from his fifth studio
album, Swimming, on May 30, 2018. The album was announced on July 13, and released
on August 3 to positive reviews.

Miller included Big L, Lauryn Hill, the Beastie Boys, Outkast, and A Tribe Called Quest
among his influences. He also 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."

Miller said that he became addicted to a combination of promethazine and codeine, known
as "purple drank" or "lean", which he began taking to manage the stress he was enduring
during his Macadelic Tour in 2012. In January 2013, Miller told Complex: "I love lean; it's
great. I was not happy and I was on lean very heavy. I was so fucked up all the time it was
bad. My friends couldn't even look at me the same. I was lost." At the time of Miller's
addiction, his childhood friend, Jimmy Murton, said: "I saw him in that mentality I
remember being in—you're getting fucked up because you feel like you need to. You're
trying to get away from everything. For how much he was drinking, it's unbelievable that he
stopped. It's definitely one of the most impressive things he's ever done." Miller quit taking
promethazine in November 2012, before he started the shooting of his reality show Mac
Miller and the Most Dope Family.
Miller was in a long-term relationship with a woman he met in middle school for four years
until April 2013. Many of the songs on his mixtape Macadelic were about their relationship.
Miller dated singer Ariana Grande from August 2016 to May 2018.

In February 2011, while on tour in Upstate New York, Miller and his friends were arrested
for possession of marijuana for which they had to spend the night in jail. The case was
settled.
Producer Lord Finesse filed a $10 million lawsuit against Miller, Rostrum Records and
DatPiff on July 9, 2012, for the use of a sample of Finesse's song "Hip 2 Da Game" used
in Miller's 2010 mixtape song "Kool-Aid and Frozen Pizza". In January 2013, the lawsuit
was settled out of court with its stipulations kept confidential.
In March 2015, the band Aquarian Dream filed a $150,000 lawsuit against Miller for
sampling the band's song "Yesterday (Was so Nice Today)" in the song "Therapy" on his
2014 mixtape Faces.
Miller was arrested in May 2018 on charges of driving under the influence and hit and run
after allegedly crashing into and knocking down a power pole and fleeing the scene with
two passengers. Police arrived at the scene, ran Miller's license plate number, and
obtained his address. Miller confessed to the crash when police arrived at his home. Miller
was taken into custody and released on $15,000 bail.

Miller died of a suspected drug overdose in his Studio City home on September 7, 2018.
He was found unresponsive around noon that day, after a friend called for an "immediate
dispatch" for a patient in cardiac arrest, according to a 911 call. Miller was pronounced
dead at the scene upon arrival of authorities. He was scheduled for a video shoot on the
day of his death. An autopsy was done, but the cause of death is yet to be officially
determined. He was buried at Homewood Cemetery, in a Jewish funeral.