Mac Miller

**Malcolm James McCormick** (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), best known by his stage name **Mac Miller**, was an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also a noted record producer under the pseudonym **Larry Fisherman**. Miller was also known for taking on multiple alter-egos, under the aliases **Delusional Thomas** and **Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival**, respectively.

In early 2010, Miller 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 US *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.

## Early life

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 and had a Bar Mitzvah. He was raised in the Point Breeze part of Pittsburgh. Miller attended Winchester Thurston School and Taylor Allderdice High School. 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, plays piano, guitar, drums, and bass.

## Career

### 2007–2010: Career beginnings

Miller first started rapping at the age of fourteen. Before that, he wanted to be a singer-songwriter. 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 Mac 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 toldHitQuarters, 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.

### 2011–12: *Blue Slide Park* and other releases

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. 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. On July 5, 2011, Miller announced the title of his first album *Blue Slide Park* on his YouTube channel, 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".

On October 14, 2011, Mac 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 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 Freshman Class of 2011. 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.

On February 15, 2012 Mac Miller uploaded a trailer on YouTube for his long anticipated music video "Missed Calls". It was released on his official YouTube channel on June 22, 2012. On March 23, 2012, Mac 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 100chart. Miller also released a video for "Thoughts From A Balcony". In June 2012 Mac Miller premiered the song "Onaroll" available on YouTube. "Onaroll" is performed by Mac 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.

On November 21, 2012 Miller released an iTunes exclusive EP entitled *You* under the name Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival. Rather than rap, the EP features Miller crooning over lounging jazz instrumentals.

### 2012–present: *Watching Movies with the Sound Off* and *Faces*

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. Mac Miller is currently featured on a six-episode reality series titled *Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family* on MTV2. It features 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".

Mac 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, Mac 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 is also currently working on four separate projects, that he already has at least seven songs done on each. He told MTV that they include his next solo "Mac Miller album," and it had came together by accident.

On January 14, 2014, Mac Miller announced he was no longer signed to Rostrum Records. On May 11, 2014, Miller 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.

## Influences

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

## Personal life

Miller has 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:

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 upcoming reality show, *Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family*.

Miller was in a long term relationship with a girl he met in middle school for four years until April 2013. Many of the songs on his mixtape *Macadelic* were about their relationship.

### Legal issues

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.

In June 2012, producer Lord Finesse filed a $10 million lawsuit against Mac Miller, Rostrum Records and DatPiff 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", even though the song was not commercially released and Finesse was given credit for the sample from the beginning. A case can be made that the song "made money through YouTube ads and Lord Finesse could be entitled to some of those, but instead Finesse believes that his beat has been instrumental to all of Mac's success." This was done even though the song is itself based on an Oscar Peterson sample, which he himself never paid for. In January 2013 the lawsuit was settled outside of court with actual legal results not revealed.

### Studio Albums

* *Blue Slide Park* (2011)
* *Watching Movies with the Sound Off* (2013)

### Mixtapes

* *K.I.D.S* (2010)
* *Best Day Ever* (2011)
* *Macadelic* (2012)
* *Faces* (2014)

## Tours

* The Incredibly Dope Tour (2011)
* Blue Slide Park Tour (2011)
* Macadelic Tour (2012)
* Under the Influence of Music Tour (2012) (with Wiz Khalifa)
* The Space Migration Tour (2013)