Mac Miller
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Mac Miller’s Drug Supplier Says He Wasn’t Aware Of Fentanyl In The Fatal Pills He Gave The Rapper
After pleading guilty to the distribution of fentanyl, Mac Miller drug supplier Stephen Walter insisted that he had no idea that the pills he gave the rapper contained fentanyl, according to a new report in the New York Post.
Walter, who was in court Tuesday (via video conference) for the hearing in which he actually entered his plea, told the judge, “I was charged with selling blue pills, little blue counterfeit oxycontin pills… and I didn’t know what was in them. I didn’t know, like, fentanyl was in it. But I do say, yes, that I aided and abetted the transaction.”
Those pills wound up being the catalyst for Mac Miller’s eventual overdose, as the dosage for fentanyl is up to ten times stronger than oxycontin. Walter said he’d never met Mac before, only the other two men who were also indicted in the case, Cameron Pettit and Ryan Reavis, both of whom also pled guilty. “I only talked to Cameron,” he said. “I didn’t know what his intentions were with the pills. After he saw Ryan Reavis, I didn’t know what he was going to do with them.”
Walter’s sentencing is scheduled for March 7, 2022; Reavis’ is scheduled for April 4, 2022. Both could be given up to 20 years in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.
The Last Of Mac Miller’s Three Drug Dealers Pleads Guilty To Fentanyl Distribution
More than three years after Mac Miller’s tragic death, all three of his accused drug dealers have reached plea agreements for fentanyl distribution in connection to the rapper’s death. The last of the trio, Ryan Reavis, who is a 38-year-old resident of Lake Havasu, Arizona, agreed to plead guilty to the charge, according to Rolling Stone, who cited an announcement from the United States Attorney’s Office for Central District of California. Reavis was accused of giving counterfeit pills to a drug dealer who then sold them to Miller. According to the court records, the pills were given to Miller just two days before he passed away on September 7, 2018.
Reavis’ plea comes just weeks after the two other accused drug dealers in the case — Stephen Andrew Walter and Cameron James Pettit — pled guilty to the fentanyl distribution charge in the case. Walter “knowingly directed” Reavis to sell the pills to Pettit, who delivered them to Miller. “Reavis admitted in his plea agreement to knowing that the pills contained fentanyl or some other controlled substance,” the United States Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday. “In fact, the pills contained fentanyl.”
The United States Attorney’s Office says Petit’s case is still pending despite it being previously reported that he reached a plea agreement. In the coming weeks, Reavis and Walter are expected the officially plead guilty before a judge in Los Angeles.
Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Watch A New Visualizer For Mac Miller’s ‘Frick Park Market’ On The 10th Anniversary Of ‘Blue Slide Park’
While each of Mac Miller’s six albums hit the top five in the Billboard 200 chart, it’s only his debut full-length, Blue Slide Park, that topped the chart. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, the album is a testament to the late rapper’s carefree, authentic persona. It shows how even though he had inner demons that tragically ended his life, he was always just a kid from Pittsburgh looking to have fun.
In concert with the album’s anniversary, Rostrum Records released a new visualizer to the track “Frick Park Market,” an ode to Miller’s local corner store that seemed to have “anything you need” on the shelves. The visual features animations by Shokka, in a colorful and psychedelic display of the store, and the personalities in its orbit, that fits the song perfectly. In fact, on the Blue Slide Park commentary, Miller even alluded to the song’s kaleidoscopic nature:
“That was the first single, that was the first thing we let people hear and I think that it really helps to represent what I’m doing with this album: how it starts out just fun and some things you’re used to hearing from me and it goes into something a little more trippy and a little more different and kinda takes you on an adventure.”
In the end, revisiting the track and hearing Miller drop lines like “I’mma feed the world you can put it on my tab / Run until my legs go numb, I don’t plan on lookin’ back,” it’s a warm reminder of his style, his disposition, and how much he’ll be missed.
Watch the visualizer for “Frick Park Market” above.
Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
One Of Mac Miller’s Dealers Has Pled Guilty To Distribution Of Fentanyl
Stephen Walter, the man who supplied the drugs that caused Mac Miller’s 2018 overdose has pled guilty to a charge of distribution of fentanyl, according to TMZ. Walter accepted a plea deal allowing him to avoid a charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, which would have added to the penalty. Walter was accused of giving Percocet pills cut with fentanyl to Mac’s alleged dealer, Cameron James Pettit, which Pettit then gave to Mac, causing him to overdose (fentanyl is several times more potent than oxycodone, making it easier to overdose from a much smaller amount).
The maximum penalty for illegal distribution of fentanyl is more than 20 years in prison, although TMZ notes that prosecutors have only recommended 17 years with five years of supervised release. Walter was fully aware that the pills he sold Pettit were counterfeit and contained fentanyl, according to prosecutors, which explains the recommendation, and he was already on supervised release from a prior conviction. Pettit, Walter, and a third man, Ryan Reavis (who acted as a go-between for the other two), were all scheduled for a hearing on November 16 to face conspiracy charges; by pleading out, Walter avoids the conspiracy charges the other two will be tried on.
Mac Miller’s Drug Supplier Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Charge
Young Thug Isn’t Quite A ‘Punk’ On His Latest, But Offers Up Some Of His Most Compelling Music Yet
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Leave it to Thugger to continue to push the boundaries of what we should expect from him. After the success of his debut album So Much Fun, you’d think he’d lean further into the simple trap aesthetics that worked so well there, but instead, he takes a drastic stylistic departure akin to his “country” experiment Beautiful Thugger Girls on his latest album, Punk. However, despite its name, Punk is surprisingly low on power chords and rushed drumming, focusing instead on atmospheric, mellow production that sounds almost folksy.
It’s always been Thug’s way to make a left when everyone else expects him to make a right. Consider the mush-mouthed, yet irresistible chorus from 2014’s “Lifestyle” or the sartorially challenging cover from 2016’s Jeffery — both prime examples of Thug’s tendency to zig instead of zag while still adhering to a core of solid trap-rap fundamentals. Punk finds him again experimenting with sound and style but remaining as true as ever to his core aesthetic. In fact, it’s arguably the truest he’s ever been to himself — or at least, the most honest.
Starting with the very first song on the album, “Die Slow,” Thug is more revelatory here than he’s ever been. Over soft, poetry-house guitar strumming, Thug reveals childhood traumas, a prescient political outlook, and almost militant defiance toward being categorized, demeaned, or held back by societal expectations. Elsewhere on the album, the contrarian production leans tender, like some of the most emotive R&B ballads of the last ten years or so. “Insure My Wrist” is the most romantic ode to jewelry that hip-hop has produced in at least that span, which would be borderline surprising if Young Thug didn’t have a well-established history of being Young Thug.
“Love You More” also surprises, with its Nate Ruess and Jeff Bhasker appearances — but then again, it doesn’t, because Thug once sampled Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” sparking a years-long friendship that led to glowing assessments of Thugger’s talent from the knighted one himself. It’s also a gracious rumination on a relationship mostly bereft of Thugger’s usual cartoonish depictions of sex (although there is one line that reads as more considerate than jokey). Again, eyebrow-raising were it not from the same gentlemen whose catalog of hits includes “Best Friend,” a deceptively encouraging self-love anthem.
That isn’t to say he doesn’t go at least a little hardcore. While “Rich N**** Shit” with Juice WRLD is relatively far from Dead Kennedys — they’re philosophically opposite, on top of the sonic differences — the two rappers go for broke over a thumping, bass-turned-to-eleven beat with some good, old-fashion chest-thumping braggadocio. Meanwhile, the moody “Day Before” brings things full-circle with another confessional, ukulele-strumming introspective jam featuring Mac Miller. The punk promise here comes from the revelation that the song was literally recorded just one day before Mac’s tragic passing.
Thug brings out the best of his other guests on Punk, as well — particularly J. Cole, who stops just shy of a Thug impression on “Stressed,” a rejuvenated ASAP Rocky on “Livin It Up,” and Doja Cat on “Icy Hot.” While the tracklist feels excessive at times, the runtime comes across smooth, even with the bloat. As to why it’s called Punk, I think it boils down to Thug’s very personality. He’s always been anti-establishment, even as he slowly but surely became the establishment.
This album is his way of shaking himself loose from the tendency to stagnate and calcify as complacency sets in. He isn’t completely successful — perhaps a few more sonic cues from the rock world could have woken up some of the sleepier melodic songs — but the record is unapologetic, one-hundred-percent Thug. What’s more punk than being yourself? Maybe it’s just being willing to redefine exactly what that means, even if it’s just a little bit at a time.
Punk is out now via Atlantic Records and YSL. Get it here.
Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.