Mac Miller has died, TMZ, Variety, The Blast report, and his family confirms in a statement. According to the reports, he died of an apparent overdose. He was 26 years old.
“Malcolm McCormick, known and adored by fans as Mac Miller, has tragically passed away at the age of 26,” his family said in a statement to Pitchfork. “He was a bright light in this world for his family, friends and fans. Thank you for your prayers. Please respect our privacy. There are no further details as to the cause of his death at this time.”
Mac was born Malcolm James McCormick in Pittsburgh. He signed with local independent label Rostrum Records in 2010, releasing his breakout mixtape K.I.D.S the same year. In 2011, he released his debut album, Blue Slide Park, which became just the second independent hip-hop record to top the Billboard 200 chart. McCormick went on to release four more studio LPs, including his latest, Swimming, which arrived via Warner Bros. this past August. He also released several mixtapes under various aliases like Delusional Thomas and Larry Lovestein.
McCormick rapped openly about substance abuse on projects like Faces and Watching Movies With the Sound Off. In a 2013 interview with Complex, he revealed that he developed an addiction to promethazine and codeine during his tour behind his mixtape Macadelic. At the time, he said that he had kicked the habit at the urging of his friends. In May 2018, McCormick was involved in a car accident while driving under the influence. He spoke with Zane Lowe about the incident in a July Beats 1 interview. “It was the best thing that could have happened,” he said. “I needed that. I needed to run into that light pole and literally have the whole thing stop.”
