Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), who performed as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and producer from Pittsburgh, PA who was best known for his evolution as an artist and his ability to blend genres. With inspirations ranging from the gritty street legend Big L to the psychedelic icon John Lennon, Mac’s catalogue is as diverse as it is intricate.

Born in Pittsburgh to an architect for a father and a photographer for a mother, Mac was raised around talent and creativity. Having found a love for music early on, by age six he was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who could play piano, guitar, bass, and drums. As Mac entered his teen years, however, he found himself engulfed in Pittsburgh’s local hip-hop culture; at only 15 years old, he formed a duo with his friend’s older brother, released his first mixtape, and helped found a local rap collective. Mac quickly established himself as a promising newcomer through self-released mixtapes, and after catching the attention of Rostrum Records, the same label that discovered Wiz Khalifa, Mac signed with Rostrum in early 2010, beginning a landmark partnership between the two.

In late 2010, after Mac signed with Rostrum, he released his breakthrough mixtape K.I.D.S., characterized by its odes to weed-smoking and its youthful, upbeat sound. The tape achieved Diamond status on DatPiff (1,000,000+ downloads), and with the help of several music videos gone viral, Mac was rapidly launched into online stardom in the midst of the blog era. Capitalizing on the success of K.I.D.S. and two more mixtapes, Mac released his debut studio album Blue Slide Park in late 2011, featuring plenty of party anthems and the emerging “frat-rap” sound. Blue Slide Park was a commercial sensation, becoming the first independently-distributed album to reach #1 on the Billboard chart since the ‘90s. However, despite its commercial success, the album was scrutinized by critics—Pitchfork rated the album a 1/10 and called Mac “a crushingly bland, more intolerable version of Wiz Khalifa”.

Following the critical reception of Blue Slide Park, Mac’s music saw a large shift in tone; less than four months after the release of his debut studio album, Mac released his mixtape Macadelic (2012), known by fans to be the first project of his to feature a darker and more introspective soundscape. After the release of Macadelic, Mac moved from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles in mid-2012 to film his own TV show for MTV2 and record material for his next album. Here, he established his famous home studio the Sanctuary, marking the beginning of one of Mac’s most prolific eras.

During Mac’s time in Los Angeles he famously became a “studio rat”, spending most of his time in his new studio where collaborated with an all-star lineup of artists, founded his own independent record label, and released music under multiple aliases including his jazz persona Larry Lovestein, his producer pseudonym Larry Fisherman, and his horrorcore alter-ego Delusional Thomas. In June 2013 Mac released his sophomore studio album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, which showcased a profound, philosophical style. The album peaked at #3 on Billboard and was received extremely well, especially in comparison to his debut.

After four years, two studio albums, an EP and a handful of mixtapes with Rostrum, Mac’s ambition began to catch up with his productivity, and he parted ways with the label in early 2014, independently releasing his seminal mixtape Faces. Critically acclaimed and loved by fans, the rawness of the mixtape showed that this period in time was in fact one of Mac’s darkest; his in-depth lyricism painted a vivid picture of a hermit lifestyle and struggles with substance abuse—including cocaine, opiates, alcohol, and psychedelics—paired with a depressive and often suicidal state of mind. In late 2014, Mac signed a $10 million deal with Warner Records and began recording his major label debut.

Mac moved from L.A. to New York in mid-2015 and released his third studio album, GO:OD AM. Compared to the darker content of his previous projects, GO:OD AM is seen as a large turning point in Mac’s career due to its lighthearted, hopeful themes. In September 2016, following months of speculation, pop singer Ariana Grande officially confirmed that she and Mac were dating. The pair first met in 2012 and collaborated on Ariana’s lead single “The Way” from her debut studio album. Days after their announcement, Mac released his fourth studio album, The Divine Feminine, which is largely about love and the divinity of women. Some fans previously speculated that the album was about Ariana, though she denied this claim, stating that only “Cinderella” is about her.

On May 10, 2018, after almost two years together, Ariana announced that she and Mac had split up; she cited Mac’s struggles with drug addiction as a major factor in their breakup. One week later, Mac was involved in and arrested for a DUI hit-and-run. Despite the recent turbulence in his life, Mac released a three-pack of singles on May 30. He followed up with Swimming, his fifth studio album, on August 3, 2018. Swimming was praised by NME for “show[ing] his growth as both an artist, and as a person who’s had to deal with the most private aspects of their life being publicly dissected”. Rolling Stone wrote that Swimming is Mac’s “most impactful album of his career”.

Just over a month after the release of Swimming, TMZ reported that Mac Miller was found dead on September 7, 2018 in his San Fernando Valley home due to an apparent drug overdose at age 26, making Swimming his final body of work during his lifetime. Mac had long struggled with drug addiction and drug abuse, both of which were constant themes in his music.

On January 17, 2020, Mac’s estate released Circles, his first posthumous album and planned sixth studio album that he had been developing as a companion piece to Swimming. Mac’s estate entrusted Jon Brion, who Mac had been collaborating with for both Swimming and Circles, with finishing the album.

Exactly five years after the release of Circles, January 2025 Mac’s estate released Balloonerism, a project he developed alongside Faces in early 2014 but ultimately shelved.