Jewish Rapper Mac Miller Tops Billboard Chart

Image by Wikimedia Commons
It’s not often that a Jewish rapper tops the Billboard album chart, so it seems worth noting the sudden rise of Mac Miller, a 19-year-old hip-hop star straight outta Pittsburgh.
Miller, whose real name is Malcolm McCormick, debuted in the No. 1 spot with debut record “Blue Slide Park,” selling more than 144,000 copies since last week. Without other major new releases, Miller beat out Top 10 releases from major stars such as Adele, as well as Christmas albums by Justin Bieber and Michael Buble.
The International Business Times attributes Miller’s strong sales in part to his savvy use of social media, and calls him a “serious musician who can play instruments,” despite song titles that include “Donald Trump” and “Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza.”
The International Business Times identifies Miller as Jewish, as does the rapper himself, who says he was raised Jewish and had a bar mitzvah.
The name McCormick, in case you’re curious, comes from the rapper’s non-Jewish father.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Is ‘Andor’ about Jews, Palestinians — or both and/or neither?
-
Fast Forward Judge dismisses lawsuit against Zionist Organization of America leader Mort Klein
-
Fast Forward US reaches truce with Houthis hours after Israel bombs their airport in Yemen
-
Fast Forward Trump says only 21 hostages remain alive in Gaza: ‘3 have died’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.