Rise to Fame
Pittsburgh's indie rap scene wasn't supposed to produce a chart-topper, but Blue Slide Park (2011) debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 144,000 copies in its first week, making it the first independently distributed debut album to top the chart since 1995. He'd started releasing mixtapes around Pittsburgh at 15 and built an online fanbase through K.I.D.S. (2010) before anyone in the industry noticed. The album title came from a real playground in Frick Park where he grew up. His early years were almost deliberately local, which made the national explosion stranger.
In the Spotlight
He spent his mid-twenties wrestling with substance abuse and becoming a more serious artist at the same time. Swimming (2018), out one month before he died, earned his first Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. The general consensus had caught up to what his fanbase already knew. Posthumous album Circles, completed by producer Jon Brion and released in January 2020, debuted #3 on the Billboard 200 with 164,000 units, his biggest opening ever. He was better as he got older, which makes the ending harder.
Side Notes
The early party-rap image came from somewhere specific: Point Breeze, Pittsburgh, a neighborhood he referenced constantly, with his debut's title pulled from a local playground. Under the alias Larry Fisherman, he produced beats for other artists and quietly built a second career that put him closer to producer than MC. He'd taught himself piano, guitar, drums, and bass by age 6. Donald Trump called him 'the new Eminem' for the song 'Donald Trump,' then threatened to sue for using his name. That feud didn't age the way Trump expected.
Final Chapter
A fan vigil at Blue Slide Park in Pittsburgh drew thousands on September 11, 2018. An October 31 tribute concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles featured Travis Scott, SZA, John Mayer, and Chance the Rapper, with proceeds going to the Mac Miller Circles Fund. A federal grand jury indicted three men in October 2019 for distributing fentanyl-laced pills that caused his death; the supply chain originator, Stephen Walter, was sentenced to 17.5 years.