It was just a normal Friday night. I was talking to some friends, until I heard one of them say it: Mac Miller is dead. He was found dead in his Los Angeles home.

This came to a shock — not just to me, but to everyone. Scroll through Instagram, and see it is filled with people posting about his death. Go on Twitter, and see the people tweeting emotional stories about him.

Mac Miller was a rapper who was changing the game for genre. He was known as a “natural conversationalist” and was never put into one kind of category for his music. Born January 19, 1992 in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Miller started his rise to fame in 2006 at the age of 14 by getting a massive gain in followers after posting series of rapping mixtapes. He released 10 albums, most recently one that came out August 3, 2018 called Swimming. Before releasing it, he took a break for a couple months to get away from the paparazzi and to take some time for himself. Mac Miller had struggled with drugs and sobriety for a while and talked openly about his struggle.

The true cause of his death has not been released yet, but it has been said it was an apparent drug overdose. Many fans, enraged and upset, are putting the blame on his ex-girlfriend of two years, Ariana Grande. They say his death happened because she broke up with him and was engaged to someone else only six weeks later. We may never truly know, but from the facts, he had been struggling with addiction for a while and others fans reiterate that Ariana should not be blamed for his death — she did nothing wrong.

Mac Miller’s death has put an emotional toll on many fans. Celebrities are posting about how he is gone from this world too soon. Singers like Elton John are playing tributes for him at their concert. Fans cry knowing that this creative soul is gone. Pittsburgh fans are overwhelmed and feel a personal connection to him since he was from their part of the world. Some are even signing a petition to rename Blue Slide Park after Mac Miller to honor his memory because it housed his favorite slide as a kid.

Across the internet, the reactions are heartbreaking.

“NOOO! I do not wanna believe my brother is dead!” Le’Veon Bell tweeted. “I cannot take this anymore, life is too short…I just know you’re now in a better place now than this place we call Earth @MacMiller …I love you bro, and will miss you,” 

“I cried,” Jewell C. wrote. “He went to high school with my brothers, and I lived in a poor area, so to have someone like him come from where I did and be so successful was inspiring.”

“Mac Miller was Pittsburgh,” Andrew McCutchen tweeted with a photo of Mac Miller and himself at a Pirates game. “My last encounter w/ him was when I was on the Pirates and he came to a game in LA. He sat right next to our dugout and cheered throughout the entire game. Literally standing and screaming every time I ran in from defense. You will be missed bro. RIP.”

“I mean all I really can say is that Ariana Grande should not be blamed for his death,” said Abby H.

“I can’t keep losing friends like this…I wish I spent more time with you these past weeks…I’m so sorry… rip MAC…you wrote the soundtrack to my college years and I’m so happy I got to know you…this sucks this really really sucks,” Charlie Puth tweeted an emotional message.

“I just think he was a talented artist who died way too young. Too many people are overdosing and are dying from it. I just think it needs to be talked about more,” said Tanner D.

Across these wide-spanning reactions, the sentiment remains the same: Mac Miller’s struggle with addiction should be discussed more openly to hopefully save others who are fighting the same problems. We cannot be afraid to talk about addiction anymore. Too many people are dying at young ages because of drugs — just look a singer Demi Lovato, who was hospitalized in July for having a relapse and overdose.

The hope is that Mac Miller’s death will prove to people that the stories of those struggling with addiction need to be heard. But there is no reversing the fact that another talented young artist is gone from this world.