Mac Miller had a very close relationship with bassist, producer and singer, Stephen Bruner - fka Thundercat. They collaborated musically on several occasions, including Mac's songs, "In The Morning", "Break The Law" and "What's The Use?". But throughout this time, the two were frequently seen smiling in photos together, showing they had a friendship that existed beyond music. Their connection is probably best documented in Mac's now-legendary and heartwrenching NPR Tiny Desk. Today, on the one year anniversary of Mac's passing, Thundercat recollected this special experience in a series of tweets.
Thundercat mentioned that he had taken a day off of his tour in Europe solely to come back and accompany Mac for his Tiny Desk performance. About this moment, Bruner wrote: "..so when he turns around and looks at me and laughs after I say “thank you”, it was really genuinely because he was trippin that I just showed up to do that and leave. but it was proof that I would have done just about anything for him lol... I’m happy I did show up because I’m happy someone caught a snapshot of us in a nutshell. And this is one of my last and lasting impressions of someone that was so close to my heart."
In his touching tribute, Thundercat also recalls facetiming Mac the night before he died, which was also the night before they were supposed to shoot the music video for "What's The Use?" together. "Before he went to sleep, I got the chance to FaceTime him and call him and send him off to sleep and tell him I love him. I’m happy I did..."
After remembering these moments with Mac, Bruner shared that "for the last almost 15 years of [his] life [he] was a raging alcoholic." However, despite the pain of losing his friend, he has been sober for the past year. "There was a bit more loss after he passed, which made things really intense but I feel the growth that was happening was imminent."