Mac Miller: Tributes | Pittsburgh City Paper

Mac Miller: Tributes

Mac Miller was a legend. This late Pittsburgh-native rapper, singer, and producer was known for his candid lyrics and genre-bending style. As the news of Miller's death spread, his true cultural impact came into focus. Artists, celebrities, and Pittsburghers have offered love for his legacy.

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Such a genuine person. Brilliant sense of humor. A true artist. Your spirit is what impressed me the most. The energy you brought to any space you were in. Contagious. You reached out to me at times when others didn’t. You were human. And we shared the same disease. A disease that is out to kill us, and when left untreated eventually will. I’m shaken. Shaken that someone who had such a light can be taken from this world so easily. It could have been me too many times to count. On the surface people that appear to have it all, are not exempt from the gravity and cunning nature of this disease. If you’re in the midst of addiction tell someone what’s going on. Don’t be a secret. Go to a 12 step meeting. Introduce yourself and you’ll be greeted with love and understanding from people that are fighting the same battle. Surrender. There are many paths, but it’s the only thing that has worked for me. I’m scared. Scared of how real this all is. Life and death. Beyond sad. Such a beautiful soul. Sending love to family, friends and everyone whose life was better because of your presence on this earth. Rest In Peace Mac 💔

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This was going to be Mac Miller’s year. He made a quantum leap in his music. That’s incredibly hard to do, to evolve and get better and more focused while your career is already underway. You don’t get there without a lot of work, and Mac had put the work in. I didn’t expect to play on his album the day he played some songs for me at his house, but when I heard “Small Worlds,” I gave it a short, chirpy little “yup,” which is the highest praise I can give a track. It means we don’t need to say another word, it’s going down. I grabbed the nearest guitar in the room and within a couple of hours we had finished a tune that made me so incredibly happy to have a part in, not to mention we established a nice little friendship. He was so funny I just kind of stopped typing “LOL” back in our texts. Mac was, to me, on permanent LOL status. I gave him whatever guidance I thought I had the right to, having been through the press ringer in the past and wanting him to understand that none of that noise could ever really take a bite out of the music he was about to put out. The last time I saw him, he was playing Hotel Cafe’ in Los Angeles for a crowd of 100 people. He was nervous, and honest about it with the audience. I thought that was so endearing, especially seeing as he would go on to play one of the best sets I’d seen in a very long time. His band was unreal. You gotta know that if you weren’t familiar with Mac Miller, you were about to be, whether you would have seen him at a festival, or a friend was going to catch a show and tell everyone they knew about it (like I did.) Mac put in the work. He made his best album and formed the band that was weeks away from becoming a breakout live sensation. Believe me when I say that. I send my love and support to everyone who knew him better, because what relative little I did, I just adored.

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