Music, Ariana and addiction: Mac Miller's life explored in new 'Most Dope' book

Music, Ariana and addiction: Mac Miller’s life explored in new ‘Most Dope’ book

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Mac Miller would have turned 30 on Jan. 19.

But the rapper, who evolved from Pittsburgh-bred indie artist to platinum-selling star who shared a nearly two-year relationship with Ariana Grande, died in September 2018 from an accidental drug overdose.

That an insightful exploration of his life – the new book “Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller” – is arriving the day before what would have been a momentous birthday wasn’t specifically planned. But the karma of good timing intervened.

“This book felt like a celebration of Mac’s life and what he accomplished,” Paul Cantor, author of “Most Dope,” tells USA TODAY. “There was always the goal that the book was done right and respectfully and honestly. Around the time I was finishing it, the publisher decided they wanted to release it around the time of his birthday. They felt it was a tribute to him and I agreed.”

Remembering Mac: Fans hold vigil for rap star

Miller’s career technically began when he was 14 years old, freestyling in the attic of a friend. But navigating a rap calling as a young white man in a city increasingly entranced by another native talent, Wiz Khalifa, meant that Miller – born Malcolm McCormick – engaged in a slow-burn of independent iTunes releases and mixtapes that eventually cultivated a burgeoning fan base.

But by the time his debut, “Blue Slide Park,” arrived in 2011, Miller’s career was primed for takeoff. The album topped the Billboard 200 and introduced Miller to a wider rap audience with songs including “Smile Back” and “Party on Fifth Ave.”

Along with growing fame, Miller experienced deeper bouts of depression and, during his 2012 Macadelic tour, became addicted to lean, the combination of prescription cough syrup and soda popularized in the hip-hop community.

His music career produced four additional well-received releases before his death, though a rough review – which Cantor explores – seemed to lodge in Miller’s head.

Miller’s complicated history is painstakingly reported by Cantor, who interviewed more than 100 people during a three-year process. Miller’s family opted not to participate in the project.

Cantor traveled to Pittsburgh, California and New York – all places Miller lived – pacing the streets Miller walked and visiting the stores he patronized.

“If you listen to his music, he was a profound songwriter and thinker, a really genuine and deep human,” Cantor says. “I wanted to get into his head a bit to learn about that, what made him who he was.”

Cantor talked more about what he discovered about Miller’s life, from his relationship with Grande to his addiction to his place in hip-hop.

Question: What surprised you the most doing your research and interviews?

Cantor: I was really surprised that a lot of what was discussed after his passing with regard to his relationship with Ariana. I thought there would be a lot more salaciousness there and there was not. That relationship was very positive and loving between them. Sometimes you talk to people and you think they’re going to tell you crazy stuff. But everything (I was told) was that she was this really positive influence.

Q: Did you try to talk to her for the book?

Cantor: I tried, but I didn’t get too far. With something like that, I think that experience with him was traumatic for her, as it would be for anyone. I think she was and still is grappling with what occurred. In time, maybe she’ll speak to me.

Q: You write a lot about how that one negative review really got in Mac’s head. Do you think people will be surprised to learn how sensitive he was about such things?

Cantor: Artists are very sensitive and he was an artist in the truest sense. He was committed to creating. Some of his longtime fans will be a little surprised. I think some of his newer fans might be unearthing part of his life and career they weren’t exposed to because they may have discovered him after his passing, either through “Swimming” right before he died or “Circles,” his posthumous album which presents an artist completely in command of what he was doing. Criticism is very important in any art form, but that review was a little bit of an attack on him personally. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but it was an example of early cancel culture. The degree to which it affected him should give some people pause as to how their words are affecting people. Whether an artist is playing to 10,000 fans a night or one fan, that is still his life on his records and (that criticism) was hard for a 19-year-old kid. (Cantor interviews the reviewer, who explains his reasoning, but also says, “I would still say it’s a bad album.”)

A concert to remember: Artists pay homage to Mac Miller

Q: Did the friends and sources you interviewed indicate that they wish they would have done more to curb his use of lean, which led to the stronger addictions that ultimately killed him?

Cantor: They did express it to him when the lean was becoming a problem. I think there was some regret, as anyone in that situation would have. I think it also spoke to his power, that he was able to say, ‘I’m fine, I’m OK, I got this.’ He had an unbelievable inner strength that was projected to a lot of his friends and there was a limit to how close they could get to voicing those things. And when he wasn’t able to function, he did stop. He did realize when he had an issue. And that self-awareness can be a little disarming.

Q: Mac’s race and his place in hip-hop is another major topic. Why was it so important for you to include that context?

Cantor: Race in music and the music industry is an uncomfortable subject. Where is the line between homage and thievery? Mac is a person who was in that space and wrestled with it a lot. Some of those things are uncomfortable to read, but think about how uncomfortable it was for him to live in it. I think toward the end he made peace with it.

Q: What do you want readers, whether devout or casual fans of Mac’s music, to take away from the book?

Cantor: He was a guy from an unlikely place who really believed if he led with his creativity and passion that eventually people would respect him for what he was: A talented musician with something to say.

Mac Miller Floated Over Ups And Downs In “Dang!”

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Mac Miller was absolutely no stranger to rapping about women. A large selection of his catalog details the intricacies of intimacy with lovers and love itself. Using vivid descriptions and looping, languid lyrics, he found ways to craft images and storylines one could easily imagine playing out. Mac often wrote with a sense of hope inside of seemingly hopeless situations, making it possible to see solutions in even the most confusing relationship problems.

In September of 2016, Mac Miller released his 4th album The Divine Feminine. As the title alludes to, the project was brimming with lyrics about love, loss, and living in proximity to the feminine. While the tracks widely vary from slower, ballad-like offerings to jazzy, syncopated sonnets, “Dang!” really picks up the pace. The track, accompanied by the ever-eccentric Anderson .Paak, dances through the subject of simple mistakes creating issues in interactions.

The song chronicles a rollercoaster of a love story, which cycles through seemingly never-ending ends and beginnings. Mac speaks on coming home late, saying the wrong things at the right moments, and losing trust due to lack of attention from both parties (and the arguments that stem from such). His emotions bounce from childish blame to begging her to stay, which is an accurate representation of the conundrum that is a romantic pairing.

Mac also uses his singing voice a lot on The Divine Feminine. He displays that range on “Dang!” as a means of adding punch to the more impassioned lyrics. Complimenting .Paak’s head-bopping hook and colorful instrumentation, Mac’s shifting tones throughout really drive home the fact that love is complicated.

How do you feel about Mac Miller’s “Dang!?” Could you relate? Tell us in the comments.

Quotable Lyrics

You can’t go away, girl, I’mma need you,

Play your games like they my ticket to an Ivy League School,

Won’t get hall of fame dick from a Minor League dude,

I just eat p*ssy, other people need food

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It’s been 13 years since The Jabbawockeez won the first-ever America’s Best Dance Crew competition on MTV. Since then, they’ve thrived, performing regularly at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Over the past couple of years, they’ve taken to YouTube to upload dance routines to specific, entire songs. Their most recent is a performance to Mac Miller‘s “What’s The Use?”

The Jabbawockeez have choreography for every single second of the track. Three out of the four active members deliver killer moves throughout the video, which is set inside of a fake house. The funky grooves of the track itself allow for some brilliant maneuvers, and the creativity only escalates until the end.

It’s extremely impressive that they’ve been able to maintain their prolific careers for over a decade, while still keeping the choreography fresh. Tomorrow, The Jabbawockeez are set to release a new dance video to “Pound Cake,” by Drake.

You can check out the dance video of “What’s The Use?” by The Jabbawockeez below. Enjoy!

The best Jewish TV, movies and books coming in 2022

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2020 and 2021 will likely not be remembered as the most enjoyable years in American history, but if 2022 turns out to also be a dud, at least there will still be lots of fresh reading and viewing material for us to engage with from our childhood bedrooms and underground bunkers.

The year brings the revival of familiar names, with a new season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and newly translated essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer, as well as some fresh takes on familiar stories, like historical communism among Bronx Jews and a TV adaptation of the novel “Fleishman is in Trouble.” Here’s hoping the pandemic ends soon and we’re too busy partying in empty hospitals to binge any of them.

Watch

Part 2 of Netflix’s “The Club”

When Part 1 of The Club premiered in November, it quickly charmed Turkish viewers, especially Jewish ones, who recognized themselves in the show’s portrayal of 1950s Turkish history. The series, which largely takes place in Istanbul’s Jewish community, follows Matilda, a woman released from prison 17 years after committing a mysterious murder as a teenager, and her daughter, who grew up in an orphanage. Part 2 of the miniseries is now available to stream on Netflix.

The 2022 Winter Olympics

The U.S. government will be staging a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics this year because of China’s human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslim minorities. American athletes, however, will still be competing, as will four Israeli ice skaters, including 19-year-old Orthodox Jewish New Jersey native Hailey Kops. The Olympics will stream on NBC, and sports include skiing, snowboarding and ice hockey.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” eason four

Season 3 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” found Midge closer than ever to achieving her dreams as a comedian only to be kicked off her tour with famous singer Shy Baldwin. It also found Midge’s parents, Abe and Rose, stuck living with her ex-in-laws in Queens after Abe left his jobs at Columbia University and Bell Labs. Will a long-awaited fourth season see the clan at new highs — or new lows? Find out Feb. 18 on Amazon Prime Video.

“Bros”

Billy Eichner, best known as the overly energetic, in-your-face host of “Billy on the Street,” steps into character as a lead in this film, billed by its studio as “the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men maybe, possibly, probably stumbling towards love.” The movie, which is produced by Judd Apatow and set to debut in August, has an all-LGBT principle cast, including for heterosexual roles.

“The Fabelmans”

After directing his fair share of blockbusters, Steven Spielberg turns his gaze toward his own life in this semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story, which takes place in Arizona, where Spielberg grew up. The young actor Gabriel LaBelle will play aspiring young filmmaker Sammy Fabelman, and Seth Rogen will play his uncle.

“Diamonds”

Jews and diamonds — what could possibly go wrong? Shot in Dutch, English and Yiddish, this eight-part Netflix crime drama takes place in Antwerp’s diamond district and follows the adventures of an Orthodox diamond-dealing family. It’s yet to be announced when the series will stream, as shooting started in September, but it’s about time we get a (second?) Jewish Sopranos.

“Fleishman is in Trouble,” based on the book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Jesse Eisenberg and Lizzy Kaplan will star in Hulu’s adaptation of Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel, which Forward editor Talya Zax described as “an examination of power and gender that, because it is easy to read, somewhat masks its own intricacy.” A premiere date hasn’t been set, so it might (or might not!) happen in 2022.

Read

“Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller” by Paul Cantor

The unauthorized biography of Jewish rapper Mac Miller, who died of a drug overdose in 2018 at age 26, is embroiled in a controversy of its own. Miller’s family released a statement in May saying the author didn’t have meaningful access to important primary sources and discouraging fans from reading it, encouraging them instead to read a book called “The Book of Mac: Remembering Mac Miller” by Donna-Claire Chesman, which was released in October.

Literary critic Paul Cantor defended his biography to Page Six, saying of Miller, “I believe my book explores and contextualizes the life and art that he left behind.” No matter what, it’s sure to be interesting. Pre-order it here.

“Missing Time: Essays,” by Ari M. Brostoff

In this essay collection, Brostoff, the culture editor of Jewish Currents magazine, takes on the reemergent millennial left, Philip Roth, Vivian Gornick, communism among Jewish immigrants in the Bronx circa 1940, and other themes both Jewish and Jew-ish, while also grappling with questions of sex and gender. Readers can pre-order it from the n+1 bookstore.

“I’d Like to Say Sorry, but There’s No One to Say Sorry To” by Mikołaj Grynberg, translated by Sean Gasper Bye

Here, Grynberg, a Polish photographer and writer who has conducted oral histories of Polish Jews, uses 31 fictional first-person vignettes by both Jews and gentiles to tell a story about interreligious relations in Poland’s past and present. Pre-order it here.

“American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York” by Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers

For 15 years, scholars Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David M. Myers have worked to tell the story of how a group of Yiddish-speaking Satmar Jews formed its own local government in Orange County, New York. With sympathy toward their widely misunderstood subject matter, the authors explore the Kiryas Joel Satmar community’s rapidly changing role in American politics, as well as its place in the American Jewish community. Pre-order it here.

“Loss of Memory Is Only Temporary: Stories” by Johanna Kaplan

Critics have mentioned Johanna Kaplan in the same breath as authors of American Jewish classics like Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and Grace Paley, and those who read this short story collection will see why. The book, which includes stories originally featured in Kaplan’s 1975 collection “Other People’s Lives,” is as funny now as it must have been then, and features characters of different identities rubbing against each other: Jew and Gentile, American and Israeli, Bronxite and Manhattan native, Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Its riddle of a title suggests that the past will always catch up to us, no matter how far we think we’ve come. Pre-order it here.

“Old Truths and New Clichés: Essays” by Isaac Bashevis Singer

This new collection by the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in literature includes 19 essays, most of which have never before been published in English, and several of which were originally published in Yiddish in the Forward. The essays span three categories: literary arts, Yiddish and Jewish life and personal writing and philosophy. Pre-order it on the Princeton University Press website.

The best Jewish TV, movies and books coming in 2022

TikToker baffles viewers with video of her ‘awful’ tattoo mishap

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A TikToker is raising eyebrows after sharing how her attempt at getting a Mac Miller tattoo went horribly wrong. The now-viral saga began when user @izzy38255 posted a video of herself leaving a tattoo appointment in 2021. In it, the TikToker both cries and laughs while explaining that she got the “worst” tattoo after trying to get something to honor the late rapper Mac Miller. In it, the TikToker both cries and laughs while explaining that she got the “worst” tattoo after trying to get something to honor the late rapper Mac Miller. Apparently, she asked her tattoo artist for an image of a cell phone with the words “missed calls” printed on the screen — a reference to one of Miller’s songs. Apparently, she asked her tattoo artist for an image of a cell phone with the words “missed calls” printed on the screen — a reference to one of Miller’s songs. She also requested for the tattoo to be 2 x 3 in. in size. However, she somehow ended up with the size printed on her body as well. her tattoo artist added the digits “2-3x” onto her arm, right beneath the words “missed calls”. The TikToker also pointed out that many lines on the tattoo seemed crooked and oddly shaped. Thankfully, @izzy38255 managed to fix the tattoo. In a later video, she explained that she had a different artist fix the image by covering up the mistake and straightening the artwork

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