Mac Miller

Malcolm James McCormick (born January 19, 1992), known by his stage name Mac Miller (previously Easy Mac), is an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is signed to Rostrum Records and released his debut album, Blue Slide Park, on November 8, 2011. Malcolm James McCormick was born on January 19, 1992, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Karen Meyers, a photographer, and Mark McCormick, an architect. His father is Christian and his mother is Jewish; Miller was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah.

He was raised in the Point Breeze part of Pittsburgh. Miller attended Winchester Thurston School and Taylor Allderdice High School. In high school, Miller decided to focus on his hip hop career, later noting, "Once I hit 15, I got real serious about it and it changed my life completely... I used to be into sports, play all the sports, go to all the high school parties.

But once I found out hip-hop is almost like a job, that's all I did. " Miller, a self-taught musician, plays piano, guitar, drums, and bass. Miller first started rapping at the age of fourteen. Before that, he wanted to be a singer-songwriter.

Prior to changing his name to Mac Miller, he was known as EZ Mac and released the mixtape But My Mackin' Ain't Easy in 2007 at the age of fifteen. Miller was also part of rap group The Ill Spoken together with fellow Pittsburgh rapper, Beedie. The Ill Spoken released the mixtape How High in 2008. In 2009 Mac Miller released two mixtapes The Jukebox: Prelude to Class Clown and The High Life before getting signed to Rostrum Records.

In 2009 at age 17, he made it to the final four in Rhyme Calisthenics, the MC competition at Shadow Lounge. In early 2010, Miller signed with Rostrum Records. Rostrum president Benjy Grinberg met Miller while recording with Wiz Khalifa at ID Labs. Although Grinberg started giving Miller advice, he didn't show any interest in getting involved with his career until the artist began work on the K.I.D.S. mixtape, when, as he later told HitQuarters, Grinberg "noticed a maturation in his sound and approach to his music.

" By that point Miller had started attracting interest from different record companies but chose Rostrum due to its location in his hometown and association with Wiz Khalifa. K.I.D.S. was released by the label in August 2010. The mixtape was inspired by the movie Kids. A significant breakthrough came in late 2010 when Miller embarked on his first tour, the Incredibly Dope Tour, selling out every location.

In 2010, he won two awards at the Pittsburgh hip hop awards.