Mac Miller & The Fan Push for Self-Destruction
When I found out that Mac Miller had passed away at the age of 26, I thought it was just a bad joke someone was telling me. When I realized it was the truth, it felt like I was in a bad dream. Another rapper lost to a drug overdose. Another senseless death. I went back and forth on whether to write this because I didn’t want to feel like I was capitalizing on the death of a celebrity, especially one whose music resonated so much with me, but I’ve settled on writing it because I think it’s an important subject. That subject being the fact that fans need to stop longing for rappers to kill themselves if it means having good music. You see this often. Fans who wanted Mac to become suicidal again so he could make another Faces, or for Eminem to become addicted to drugs again because his music just hasn’t been the same since he went to rehab.
The underlying theme of statements like those is that it’s okay to encourage a rapper to self-destruct and quite possibly die because we might get some good music from it. I’m sick of people saying this. I don’t care how great an album is if it means someone has to die in its creation. There is not a single piece of art ever that is so good that it makes a death a worthwhile sacrifice. Faces is my favorite Mac Miller project, but I was so happy that he seemed to be doing better. I never wanted a Faces 2 because I didn’t think he could survive going through it again.
Rappers are well-aware of the fan push towards self-destruction as evidenced by Danny Brown’s 2016 album Atrocity Exhibition, an album explicitly about fans pushing for Danny to stay addicted regardless of his safety because the music is good. This isn’t okay. Addiction isn’t a joke. Mental health isn’t a joke. Saying you wish someone was at their lowest again isn’t a fucking joke. I’m not blaming fans for Mac’s passing. Perhaps it would have happened either way. Perhaps fans encouraging his behavior never affected him anyways. However, it’s more about the principle of it. I’m concerned at the lack of decency people have towards their fellow man.
I don’t want more good rappers to die. I don’t want more people period to die, regardless of whether they have talent or not. And maybe a good start would be for people to stop discouraging musicians from improving their situation. Just in your personal lives you could reach out to those around you who need help, and don’t shame them for their situations either. That’s all I’ve gotta say. Talking any more about this makes me sad. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to some Mac in memoriam. Pour one out for Mr. Miller.
