Mac Miller's unreleased song 'Benji the Dog' surfaces online, eight months after rapper's death
Mac Miller's untimely passing last year shook his fans and the music industry to the core. The rapper - only 26 at the time - passed away from an apparent accidental overdose, nipping a budding career and leaving a gaping hole in the hearts of his fans. He had reportedly recorded a whole bunch of music before his death - some of which surfaced posthumously as snippets and clips from those said tracks.
But now, a full-length track called 'Benji the Dog' has hit the internet and the lyrics come off as profound in the wake of his death.
The song features David Schwimmer's voice saying, “He’s always gonna be the Juice” from the show 'The People V. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story', which aired in 2016. However, his fans have claimed that Miller recorded the song in 2015, so it can be assumed that the bit in Schwimmer's voice got added on to the track later on.
It is, however, the essence of the song that has people buzzing about it, because of the sad and dark undertones it follows, and sometimes explicit remarks it makes about dying. The lyrics speak about Miller's struggles with addiction, but he also goes on to talk about the same struggle that his mother went through, with substance abuse. There are mentions of Miller arriving at a new chapter of his life, where he openly addresses that he can't dish out advice to people who are struggling with the same issues as him.
Even with its lighthearted, playful tone, the song tends to get despondent as Miller sings about how “They told me, “Don’t make a promise you can’t keep” / All the drugs in your system, you can’t sleep / How many times you had to buy a Plan B / For a girl you never bring back home to meet your family.”
The song also bears resemblance with Valerie Simpson’s 1972 soul song 'Benjie,' which was featured in the 2010 Lil Wayne/Drake collab called 'With You.'
Miller's final album 'Swimming' was nominated for best rap album at the 2019 Grammy Awards, three months after his untimely death at age 26.
The late rapper left around $4.48million to his mother, his father, and his brother after his death due to an accidental drug overdose.
Miller whose full name is Malcolm James McCormick named his mother Karen Meyer, his father Mark McCormick, and his brother Miller McCormick as the full beneficiaries of his estate. According to TMZ, documents show a 'portion' of Mac's wealth when he passed away was worth more than $4.48million.