The music world has been mourning Mac Miller since the 26-year-old died of an apparent overdose on Friday (September 7), and now footage of a touching tribute from fellow rapper J. Cole has emerged.
On Friday night, Cole performed in Las Vegas, dedicating his entire concert to the fallen Miller. While onstage, Cole delivered a heartfelt speech about mental health and addiction.
"As you grow up, you go through some traumatic shit," Cole told the crowd. "You see somebody get shot or stabbed, your mother might have been on drugs, your father wasn't around. Even if it wasn't traumatic, some shit was bothering you, some shit hurt.
"But you leave it alone, you ignore it, and before you know it, you're 20 fucking years old and you're walking around with all this shit that's accumulated and ain't nobody shown you how to deal with this shit, how to get this shit off of you that you dragging around every day."
He continued: "Next thing you know, Vegas, you're 30 years old and you're carrying around all this shit, even more shit, cause you went through your 20s and other shit happened and now you got new shit and nobody ain't ever shown you how to deal with this shit. Every day, people die. Today, yesterday and tomorrow, they die, and they never got a chance to deal with their shit, they never even knew they were supposed to.
"I'm telling you tonight, I'm not trying to wait until I die to deal with my shit, I'm trying to deal with my shit right fucking now. I know if I don't deal with it, it's gonna keep fucking with me, it's gonna keep throwing me off track, and sometimes we need reminders to get ourselves back on track. It's okay to get off track, but sometimes we need a reminder to help us get back on."
Cole then prompted the crowd to put their phones in the air and pay respect to Miller, dedicating "Love Yourz" and the rest of the concert to the late rapper.
Cole previously worked with Miller, most recently producing "Hurt Feelings" off of this year's Swimming album by the late rapper.
Upon news of Miller's death, Cole tweeted, encouraging people to reach out if they are struggling with addiction and offering to lend an ear to anyone needing to vent.
Watch footage of Cole's speech from his Vegas show below.
On Friday night, Cole performed in Las Vegas, dedicating his entire concert to the fallen Miller. While onstage, Cole delivered a heartfelt speech about mental health and addiction.
"As you grow up, you go through some traumatic shit," Cole told the crowd. "You see somebody get shot or stabbed, your mother might have been on drugs, your father wasn't around. Even if it wasn't traumatic, some shit was bothering you, some shit hurt.
"But you leave it alone, you ignore it, and before you know it, you're 20 fucking years old and you're walking around with all this shit that's accumulated and ain't nobody shown you how to deal with this shit, how to get this shit off of you that you dragging around every day."
He continued: "Next thing you know, Vegas, you're 30 years old and you're carrying around all this shit, even more shit, cause you went through your 20s and other shit happened and now you got new shit and nobody ain't ever shown you how to deal with this shit. Every day, people die. Today, yesterday and tomorrow, they die, and they never got a chance to deal with their shit, they never even knew they were supposed to.
"I'm telling you tonight, I'm not trying to wait until I die to deal with my shit, I'm trying to deal with my shit right fucking now. I know if I don't deal with it, it's gonna keep fucking with me, it's gonna keep throwing me off track, and sometimes we need reminders to get ourselves back on track. It's okay to get off track, but sometimes we need a reminder to help us get back on."
Cole then prompted the crowd to put their phones in the air and pay respect to Miller, dedicating "Love Yourz" and the rest of the concert to the late rapper.
Cole previously worked with Miller, most recently producing "Hurt Feelings" off of this year's Swimming album by the late rapper.
Upon news of Miller's death, Cole tweeted, encouraging people to reach out if they are struggling with addiction and offering to lend an ear to anyone needing to vent.
This is a message for anybody in this game that's going through something. If you don't feel right, if you feel you have a substance problem, if you need a ear to vent to. If you uncomfortable talking to people around you. Please reach out to me.
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) September 7, 2018
Watch footage of Cole's speech from his Vegas show below.
Never seen cole cry. But Mac Miller's death really hit him. Kids on drugs is what his whole KOD album was about. One of his greatest albums yet. The message is to stay away from drugs. Please people. Save your own lives. pic.twitter.com/oW1PbZp7iH
— ARKAD (@ivanefosa) September 9, 2018
Big bros concert was life . Thank you for being you @JColeNC . You have no Idea how strong I live by your words . Nas is God and Cole wrote the Bible 🤞🏽#KODTour #JCole #Loveyourz 📍T-Mobile Arena •Las Vegas,Nv ✔️ pic.twitter.com/4O981m98KN
— DUKE (@scr3amforARoC) September 9, 2018