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TMZ has reported that 26-year-old rapper Mac Miller has died.
"Mac was found Friday at around noon at his San Fernando Valley home and was pronounced dead at the scene, wrote TMZ, adding, "Authorities were alerted by a male friend who placed a 911 call from Mac's home."
Set to go on tour next month, Miller's track record of drug use and abuse finally ended in the worst possible way. According to
Us Weekly, "Miller has spoken candidly through the years about his battle with substance abuse." And as TMZ notes, "His 2014 mixtape, Faces, was almost autobiographical on the subject of drug use. There were also references to premature death." After breaking up with singer Ariana Grande, who called their relationship "toxic" (she's now engaged to actor/comedian Pete Davidson) and being arrested for two counts of DUI (and hit-and-run) earlier this year (his blood alcohol was twice the legal limit), Miller seems to have been on a dreadful downward spiral - despite his success - finally finding the ultimate rock bottom today.
As Us Weekly shared, "'I made a stupid mistake," he told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe on July 23. 'I'm a human being. Like, [I] drove home drunk. But it was the best thing that could have happened. I needed that. I needed to run into that light pole and literally, like, have the whole thing stop.'" Unfortunately, any desire to get clean and stay sober didn't end the way Miller had hoped.
Songs like "Small Worlds," "Self Care," "Donald Trump," and "Dang!" made Miller a standout, adored by fans far and wide who were surely looking forward to his upcoming tour. But according to TMZ, Miller struggled in the spotlight, telling Vulture, "He had enormous pressure growing up in the public eye."
More information about Mac Miller's untimely death is sure to emerge. Rest in peace Malcolm James McCormick.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Melissa A. Kay is a New York-based writer, editor, and content strategist. Follow her work on Popdust as well as sites including TopDust, Chase Bank, P&G, Understood.org, The Richest, GearBrain, The Journiest, Bella, TrueSelf, Better Homes & Gardens, AMC Daycare, and more.
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MUSIC
Happy Birthday Frank Ocean: His Most Underrated Deep-Cuts
The iconic crooner turns 33 today
10.28.2020
Frank Ocean's intentionally elusive character has been a key ingredient in his rise as one of the last decade's most influential artists.
"If I start to tell a story and then I decide not to tell the story anymore, I can stop. It's my story," he told W Magazine last September. "The expectation for artists to be vulnerable and truthful is a lot, you know?"
The idea of staying true to yourself may not sound inherently groundbreaking, but for the last near-decade, Frank Ocean has spoken almost exclusively through his music, at times sprinkling loosies online merely for the sake of getting something off his chest. "There's something that happens when you say what you're doing before it's done," he said to W. "You're accountable for that version that you talk about... It's usually better for me to make what I make, put it out or don't, and then talk about it freely."
<p>While his biggest hits have transformed from personal testaments into anthems for heartbroken empaths, Frank Ocean's archival deep cuts have remained the real windows into his soul. On "Lens," he warbles about his struggles as a public figure, and on "Provider," he speaks cryptically on the importance of patience when it comes to curating authentic art. Here are some of Frank Ocean's other compelling deep cuts, as we wish the iconic crooner a happy 33rd birthday.</p><p><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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Wildfire
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d8fc3f180510c425031e86829f9a20d0"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G6z7c-nIQ6M?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>On the severely underappreciated return-to-form John Mayer project <em>Paradise Valley</em>, Frank Ocean coos about a passionate love affair over the chirp of late-night peeper. While the brief interlude is over in a little over a minute, it's a transporting few moments and conjures up the all-consuming sensuality that comes with a fleeting summer romance. The track was also a coy ode to French model Willy Cartier, who the singer was rumored to be dating at the time.</p>Bitches Talkin' / Songs For Women
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5fd567794c7eb788b01a2cb053354d95"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_09OZPldk_g?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Over a slick infusion of lo-fi surf rock and '80s synth-pop, Frank Ocean grinds out memorable bars and shows welcomed versatility as a rapper and singer. He explores a newfound love affair, and over the course of the song, watches it deteriorate as he prioritizes making music, but the singer never changes his mind. He understands his music will make women swoon, but at the end of the day, they remain unable to relate to his lifestyle.</p>Pilot Jones
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5e43aaa5ce9277ac381309e8b8061aad"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/azgDZ-TBCzk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>The glitchy <em>Channel Orange </em>deep-cut "Pilot Jones" once again finds Frank offering stream-of-consciousness anecdotes about another relationship. The love affair is undoubtedly toxic, and Frank's voice weaves in and out of various tempos and pitches, his voice at times shaky and unguarded then clear and pristine. </p><p>His voice wavers and stumbles with an almost drunken elegance as electronic clicks and wurrs gently push him along. He is trying to bring himself down to his partner's level, a prospect he ultimately fails to achieve. It's an absorbing track that shows that Frank truly thrives when placed amongst deteriorating song structures.</p>Blue Whale
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4a2300d9667687dcd6aa0ac190231b20"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vinLW-uY53Q?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>An early album outtake uploaded spontaneously, "Blue Whale" finds Frank full-on rapping and speaking frankly on his relationships and his poor adjustment to fame. "This life goes on man that's one thing about it," he says with defeat. He knows there's no escape from this lifestyle he chose. The beat, produced by Pharrell Williams, flows like a gentle body of water, and it's a shame the track didn't get a final album cut.</p>Biking
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5730e5f548adc50d72a70eff8acd4afc"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fYGPcfUqzL0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>With hard-hitting features from Jay-Z and Tyler, the Creator, it's a shame this 2017 loosie didn't get more attention. While the song's lo-fi vibe fits perfectly in Frank's world, Tyler, the Creator and Jay also sound right at home. Frank's buoyancy sounds optimistic, a refreshing departure from his signature slow-burn hums, and that's because Frank was hesitantly content at this point in his career. </p><p>"God gave you what you could handle," he calls out on the track's hook, his voice soaked in reverb; there doesn't seem to be anything he can't conquer on his own. It's a fleeting victory lap for someone as empathetic as Frank, and you know it won't be long before he's down in the dumps again. But the crooner tries to relish in this moment of satisfaction rather than question it this time around, and it's a welcomed change of pace.</p>Crack Rock
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="37ff7120dbd7b20bb5b389fbb251f8ec"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IVzzw7Vkiyg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Aided by bouncy drums and a breezy keyboard, Frank abandons his relationship commentary in favor of a deep reflection on drug addiction and the war on drugs. Here he croons with a breathy quip, a move he said was intentional in order to mimic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jul/21/frank-ocean-guardian-exclusive-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">how a "smoker would sing it."</a> The track's narrative remains powerful and transportive to this day.</p>Skyline To
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8e85a2198e917f8808a6ecbf30582f29"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CtkUJb22oSQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>While almost every song on <em>Blonde</em> is by no means underappreciated, "Skyline To" finds Frank once again gliding freely in the clouds, nothing but improvisational guitars to push him along. The song's power is that it is merely a collection of ruminating thoughts Frank has had over the last few years, most of them soaked in bitter nostalgia. "It begins to blur, we get older," he cries. "Summer's not as long as it used to be." </p><p>"Skyline To" highlights what makes Frank such a compelling artist: his ability to take the mental struggles of the human experience and shape them into song.</p>From Your Site Articles
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CULTURE
The Hollywood Appeal of NXIVM's "Sex Cult"
Keith Raniere's pseudo-philosophy ranged from hedonism and nihilism to neurotic obsessions with weight, body hair, and training people out of empathy.
10.28.2020
The Daily Beast
In 2006, when Allison Mack was a lead actress on CW's Smallville, she accepted an invitation from co-star Kristin Kreuk to attend a meeting for a "women's empowerment" group called NXIVM (pronounced nex-ee-um).
Over the following decade, the Albany-based organization became known as a cult that practiced sex slavery and branding under the guise of mentoring young women. Earlier this week, Mack pleaded guilty to charges of federal racketeering and sex trafficking for her senior role within the organization, which included recruiting women for "labor and services" under orders from Keith Raniere, NXIVM's leader and co-founder.
On October 28th 2020, Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison for his involvement with NXIVM. Here's everything you need to know about the cult, and what led to Raniere's downfall.
<p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTM0ODUxMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTUzMzY5NX0.Sw4dRdouTIlzSA92ehE5K8tTVzkaGj2asTjaVnGWJtw/img.jpg?width=980" id="d1d08" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0dedff44d0941e452b1e59fdd1672b7c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="popdust hollywood nxivm">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Keith Raniere and Allison Mack</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">NewYorkUpstate</small>
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</p><center><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script>
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</script></center><p></p><p>The history of Hollywood is rife with cults, as open-minded, young actors who are eager for community and attention are often the preferred targets of charismatic cult leaders who twist a desire to belong into a form of idolatry. NXIVM's claims to be a self-improvement organization for women began with Nancy Saltzman and Keith Raniere, who founded NXIVM as a private company in 1998. While it's been called a business-oriented pyramid scheme, its premise is similar to L. Ron. Hubbard's Scientology, in that Raniere treated his personal (and usually aberrant) worldviews as revelatory philosophies. </p><p>
<span></span>Over time, NXIVM drew the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hollywood-followers-of-nxivm-a-women-branding-sex-cult" target="_blank">attention</a> of actresses Grace Park, Linda Evans, Nicki Clyne, and Kristin Kreuk, with Goldie Hawn even signing on to appear at an annual Vanguard Weekend event before the press began to expose the organization's criminal activities. Jodi Wille, a documentarian focusing on subcultures, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/how-smallvilles-allison-mack-went-actress-sex-cult-slaver-1112107" target="_blank">observes</a>, "I find that the vast majority of people who join these groups are extremely intelligent, open-minded, kind, loving people." Wille adds that many "are lost or damaged, and so if you get a predator in the mix, whether it's Harvey Weinstein or the leader of NXIVM, they're going to go for it. They offer other forms of support that you can't get from your agent or your manager."</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>Like many cult leaders, Raniere developed his own language. As the leader of the organization, Raniere was renamed the "Vanguard"; his inner circle, which quickly came to include Mack after her first meeting, included an elite society called "DOS." Raniere, Saltzman, and Mack were arrested in 2018 after several ex-NXIVM members <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/magazine/sex-cult-empowerment-nxivm-keith-raniere.html" target="_blank">exposed</a> them for recruiting "slaves" for DOS "masters." Under the guise of personal development seminars, NXIVM encouraged new, young members to confess their most personal and incriminating secrets, from sharing family secrets to turning over nude photographs. According to allegations of former members, the inner circle blackmailed "slaves" to remain under Raniere's control. Additional allegations range from forced labor to branding women with Raniere's initials.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTM0ODUyMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTE4NTA3MH0.0vBt7x4UuB5XCTKMydQCpqeM2embC77LGDqi86lDy74/img.jpg?width=980" id="e145b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c51bc8ef1bcb6d801d2f58b7b7102b50" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="popdust NXIVM branding">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Alleged branding of Keith Raniere's initials on NXIVM members (left) and Allison Mack (right)</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">YouTube</small>
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The 58-year-old's pseudo-philosophy ranged from hedonism and nihilism to neurotic obsessions with weight, body hair, and training people out of empathy. One former NXIVM member <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/how-smallvilles-allison-mack-went-actress-sex-cult-slaver-1112107" target="_blank">summarized</a> what Raniere taught as The Fall, in which "it felt really good to do bad things," while doing good things "felt really bad." Raniere called his style of teachings "Rational Inquiry," through which female followers were encouraged to reject the societal norms of monogamy and most staples of gender equality.<br>
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Effectively, Mack recruited women for Raniere's <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/how-smallvilles-allison-mack-went-actress-sex-cult-slaver-1112107" target="_blank">harem</a> of followers (the DOS), who were held to the cult leader's bizarre, rigid standards, including: a restrictive diet of 900 calories to maintain dangerously thin figures (their weight was recorded daily); unshaven pubic hair (women were forbidden from shaving or waxing); and forced sex with Raniere. A former DOS "slave" described Raniere's psychological manipulation as the work of social isolation and his insistence that the women were all connected through his sperm: "If one woman is having an issue, it hurts Keith, and if he's hurting, you're hurting...So if you do something he doesn't like, you get an army of women, sister wives, coming after you. You get ostracized. No one wants to socialize with you unless you get back in line."
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After Mack's 2018 arrest and release on $5 million bail, the actress corroborated the blackmail of members with "personally damaging or ruinous" secrets. In a statement before the Federal District Court in Brooklyn, the 36-year-old said, "I must take full responsibility for my conduct." In total, Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering, forced labor conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and multiple sex trafficking charges.
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"I was lost," she told the court. After "self-examination," she expressed remorse for her actions. Each count against her carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
</p>
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