Thundercat has a new album out this week, Distracted. And the bass maestro known to his mom as Stephen Lee Bruner has been talking to Spin about it, singing on record for the first time and the posthumous appearance Mac Miller makes on one track.
Bruner and Miller were close buddies, and the rapper’s death in 2018 from an accidental overdose hit the bassist hard. She Knows Too Much, on the new album, features a verse from Miller, though it’s not the first time Thundercat has sampled his friend since 2018 – he also turned up on his 2020 album It Is What It Is.
“I’ve been working through it,” he says of his grief. “I’m grateful that the family allowed me to use the song. It’s been complicated, but I guess it always was.
"There’s been many moments in life that have had this tone to them, but I think this one hit harder. With Mac, I would see myself, I’d see my friend, but something about this one. It was just really painful, and I had to work through it in front of everybody. The world felt that one.”
Losing Miller was a key factor is embracing sobriety, he explains. Shortly after he died, Bruner went vegan, quit drinking, and lost over 100 pounds.
“Mac’s death was an extremely traumatic experience for me,” he says. “And it was kind of a combination of things at the time that really brought about that level of change. I’ve gotten better at processing it as time kind of heals things. But that was definitely a very key element and fundamental in my sobriety.”
Distracted also marks the first time Bruner has stepped up to the mic and sung on one of his own records. Apparently, it took some convincing from his friend (and now label manager – he’s signed to Brainfeeder), Flying Lotus.
“That was weird as hell to me,” he admits. “It tickled me a bit, but it was also very, very, very weird. It was like, ‘That’s me, lol.’ Like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is who I am, I guess, or something.’ It weirded me the hell out. Seriously, at first, I was like, ‘Guys, I sing,’ and it’d be like, ‘Huh?’ I’m no longer just the bassist. It’s like I have something to say. I did not pay attention in school. I’m the last person to have something to say.”
