Mac Miller's debut album "Blue Slide Park" was the first independently distributed album to top the charts since 1995. The album also attracted some attention in the critical sphere, being panned by publications across the board. Despite his commercial success, Miller found himself very bothered by the harsh criticism of the project, and says it was this negativity that turned him to drug abuse.
Speaking with Complex, Mac admitted to picking up an addiction to Promethezine, more specifically in the form consumed by many rappers and know as "lean".“I love lean; it’s great,” he said. "I was not happy and I was on lean very heavy. ... I was so fucked up all the time it was bad. My friends couldn’t even look at me the same. I was lost.”
Mac talked about being dismissed as a "frat rapper", and how he felt this branding was a shallow critique of him as a person, rather than the record. "A lot of the reviews were more on me as a person,” he said. “To be honest, that was even worse. You’re 19, you’re so excited to put out your first album, you put it out—and no one has any respect for you or for what you did.”
Read the full interview over at Complex.com