This past Thursday marks six months since the passing of the talented Malcolm McCormick, better known as Mac Miller. Though most of the world has moved on, his death is still felt throughout the masses that loved him for his music and wonderful personality. The one thing Mac was known for was how "real" he was as a celebrity. His fans knew him beyond his mainstream hits and adolescent mixtapes and saw a young man who literally made a name for himself out of the streets of his hometown. There's no denying that Mac suffered from personal demons, but that's one of the reasons that made him such a personable artist; I truly felt like I knew Mac and that he was a good friend of mine.
I'll never forget the day when I discovered Mac Miller. My best friend and I loved to share music with one another, and one of the many methods we had in finding little treasures before they would hit the radio was checking iTunes every week for their "Free Single of the Week" (which tragically ended in 2015) Low and behold, we stumbled across "On and On," one of his singles off of "On And On And Behold." We were instantly hooked. We needed to find more music from this dorky-looking white boy from Pittsburg with an infectious happy-go-lucky attitude and catchy, fun lyrics.
My generation grew up listening to Mac and some of my most memorable memories as a teenager was associated with his music. The song "Donald Trump," doesn't make me think of our current president, but instead takes me back to middle school, when my friends and I would rap every single word and feel like a baller afterward. The album "GO:OD AM" transports me back to late nights in high school with my squad, when all we cared about was getting out of town after graduating. "Senior Skip Day" was an oldie-but-goodie that always put me in a good mood whenever I was feeling down.
It's funny how life is; my best friend and I discovered Mac together in middle school and eight years later we were together when the news of his tragic death hit the tabloids. Just that day, we were talking about buying tickets to his Orlando show in November and hours later he was discovered dead in his house in California? We couldn't wrap our minds around it. His death affected me more than any other celebrity. How could I mourn for someone I personally didn't know? It's because I felt his soul in his voice, in his lyrics, and his humor.
Mac Miller was a special soul that was taken from this Earth too soon. His talents were appreciated by many and even though six months have passed, he is forever memorialized in his music.
