

So as a fan himself, Miller’s sudden death caught Cantor off guard, as it did with the rest of the world. The two even crossed paths a handful of times. Replying that, yes, Miller deserved a shot, Cantor watched over the years as the Pittsburgh MC’s profile rose through the ranks of hip-hop’s top names. He’d been a fan of Miller’s since day one-almost literally, as a publicist for Miller’s future record label had sent Cantor a clip of the young rapper’s early music, asking for his opinion. Writing the book wasn’t easy for Cantor, a seasoned music journalist whose bylines have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Esquire, Billboard, and XXL. 18, a day before the rapper would have turned 30. It was a moment many brought up with author Paul Cantor, whose biography Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller hits shelves on Jan.


Miller’s peculiar attitude around the car crash stuck with–or rather haunted–his close friends in the wake of his death. It would only be another four months after the crash that Miller’s assistant discovered him dead in his Los Angeles home after an accidental drug overdose which a toxicology report confirmed was due to a mixture of cocaine laced with fentanyl, as well as alcohol.
