Mac Miller
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mac Miller (1992 – 2018) was an American composer, songwriter, singer, musician and record producer known for his many compositions and his rendition of "Everybody's Gotta Live".
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Miller began his career in the city's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, he signed a record deal with Pittsburgh-based independent label Rostrum Records, with whom he had his breakthrough with the 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 album to top the US Billboard 200 since 1995. 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 three studio albums: GO:OD AM (2015), The Divine Feminine (2016), and Swimming (2018). For Swimming, he was posthumously nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. He also served as a record producer for various artists, including himself, under the pseudonym Larry Fisherman.
Miller struggled with substance abuse, which was often referenced in his lyrics.
Influences
Miller included Big L, Lauryn Hill, Beastie Boys, Outkast, and A Tribe Called Quest among his influences. 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."
