The 1975 frontman Matt Healy feels guilty that his openness about his past drug use may have helped "legitimise" the substances that are believed to have killed Mac Miller.
The British rocker has alluded to his use of cocaine and opiates in his lyrics and interviews, and recently revealed he had travelled to rehab in Barbados to beat a worsening heroin addiction.
Matt, 29, was an acquaintance of Mac, who passed away in September (18) at just 26 - a death widely attributed to a drug overdose although autopsy results are yet to be revealed. He had previously battled an addiction to the prescription tranquilliser Xanax.
The Sound hitmaker tells British music magazine Q that the rapper's death filled him "with guilt" as he feels he may have helped "legitimise" drug use.
"I don't wanna ride his death," Matt says of Mac. "It really upsets me. It's just sad man. He was a good person. Incredibly talented."
The musician adds that he feels bad about potentially glamorising drug use, saying: "I feel like a w**ker. But it was either that or keep lying and feel like a w**ker anyway."
Lil Peep, another emerging hip-hop star who rapped about his use of Xanax, passed away after taking the drug and the opioid fentanyl last year. The 1975 honoured him with lyrics in their track Love It If We Made It, and by commissioning billboards paying tribute to him in London.
Matt says that he hopes these deaths frighten young people away from prescription drug misuse.
"I hope each one scares the s**t out of everybody," he warns. “It's not a f**king game!"
Reflecting on his own stint in rehab to beat drug addiction he says: "I had to be on a f**king island, with the sea stopping me from swimming back. It's a culture that is not a f**king game."
