clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Rapper Mac Miller is dead at 26

Miller was set to go on tour next month.

Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 2017 - Day 1
Mac Miller on October 28, 2017.
Rich Fury/Getty Images
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at the Atlantic.

Malcolm James McCormick, known to his fans and the music industry as Mac Miller, died on Friday at the age of 26, according to TMZ. Miller reportedly died of an apparent drug overdose and was found dead at his home in Studio City, California. His death was confirmed by Variety.

Miller is best known for his 2015 album GO:OD AM and songs like “Weekend” and “Self Care.” He was also featured on Ariana Grande’s “The Way,” which the two collaborated on in 2013. He and Grande dated from 2016 to 2018.

Miller’s new album Swimming was just released on August 3, and he was set to go on tour in October. The last message posted to Miller’s official Twitter account was a tweet on Thursday night that expressed his excitement about kicking off his concert series:

Miller never flinched in writing music about his personal battles with rejection and the music industry, or about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. That put a spotlight on the life he led in the public eye. In May, Miller was charged with a DUI after crashing his Mercedes into a power pole.

“I used to rap super openly about really dark shit,” Miller told Vulture in an interview this month, when discussing his early music and its allusions to hard drugs and the theme of dying young. “Because that’s what I was experiencing at the time. That’s fine, that’s good, that’s life. It should be all the emotions.”

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for Vox Recommends

Get curated picks of the best Vox journalism to read, watch, and listen to every week, from our editors.