Mac Lethal
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About
Mac Lethal is the stage name of American rapper David McCleary Sheldon. He is best known for his ability to rap quickly as well as starting the single-topic blog Texts from Bennett.
Online History
Mac Lethal registered his personal website Lethalville.net[4] on May 22nd, 2008. His Facebook page[2] has over 91,000 likes and his personal Twitter account[3] has over 25,000 followers. His music is hosted on MySpace[8], where he still has over 36,000 friends, and Bandcamp.[9] According to Last.fm[10], over 56,000 listeners have played Mac Lethal tracks.
Mac Lethal started his YouTube channel BlackCloverRecords[1] on October 28th, 2006. As of February 2012, he has over 39 million views and receives about 420,405 views per day. He started by uploading videos of his personal recordings before taking a more humorous approach in 2009 with "Lookin’ Bro," which was uploaded on September 15th. The song critiques the culture of stereotypical bros and guidos. In two and a half years, "Lookin’ Bro" has come just short of one million views. He’s also written raps about Occupy Wall Street[5] and Charlie Sheen.[6]
Pale Kid Raps Faster
On January 21st, 2011, Mac Lethal uploaded a video titled "Pale Kid Raps Faster!" in response to YouTuber gwatsky's video Pale Kid Raps Fast[7], posted four days prior. After YouTube commenters said Mac Lethal's video was fake, he uploaded "Pale kid raps EVEN FASTER," rapping while keeping an iPhone stopwatch on camera, proving it could not have been edited for speed. These videos were covered by Mediabistro Social Times[11], Kontraband[12], Viral Viral Videos[13] and the RapMusic.com message board.[14] In a year, Mac's initial video has been shared over 134,000 times.[15]
Look At Me Now
On November 30th, 2011, after being challenged by his Facebook[2] fans, Mac uploaded a video of him rapping to Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now” while making pancakes, altering the lyrics. The video was covered on music site Spin[16], as well as gossip blogs like Perez Hilton[17] and Buzzfeed[18] and news outlets like Huffington Post[19], New York Magazine[20], LA Weekly[21] and CNN’s Eatocracy.[22] As of February 2011, this video has over 21 million views and has been shared over 1.3 million times.[24] This video, combined with the success of Texts From Bennett, helped Mac Lethal debut at #31 on the Billboard Social 50 chart[23] that week.
Texts From Bennett
On October 22nd, 2010, Mac Lethal began posting snippets of conversations with his 17 year old cousin known as Bennett to a Twitter feed, @TextsFrmBennett.[26] He began posting screenshots[27] of these text conversations to his Facebook fan page on November 9th, 2010. Over a year later on November 12th, 2011, Mac Lethal began a single-topic blog titled Texts From Bennett[25] with these screenshots.
Texts From Bennett was covered by Buzzfeed[33], BroBible[34], the Huffington Post[35], and the International Business Times.[36] The official Facebook fan page[28] for the site has over 74,000 likes and there is an official merchandise shop.[39]
On December 2nd, the Smoking Gun[29] spoke with Mac Lethal's father, also named David Sheldon, who claimed that Mac was making up the texts and did not have a cousin named Bennett. In a follow up interview with Metro[30] on December 5th, Mac Lethal said his name was changed to protect him from internet harassment. In a statement made to Mediaite[32], Mr. Sheldon claimed he told the Smoking Gun that Bennett was a real person but it was not his real name.
Personal Life
David McCleary Sheldon was born on July 25th, 1981 and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.[40] He started rapping in high school, where he won several local rap battles and went on to win battles at hip-hop festivals including Scribble Jam. He released his first EP, Moon Thinker in 2001. Since, he has released three full albums, five EPs and twelve mixtapes.
Search Interest
In October 2007 and March 2008, search for Mac Lethal picked up some traction before dying down quickly. In January 2011, it picked up again with his fast rap videos before search traffic hit a high in December 2011 due to his "Look At Me Now" cover.
External Reference
[1] YouTube – BlackCloverRecords' channel
[2] Facebook – Mac Lethal
[3] Twitter – @MacLethal666
[5] YouTube – Mac Lethal – Occupy Wall Street Satire
[6] YouTube – Charlie Sheen Bi-Winning FAST RAP
[7] YouTube – Pale Kid Raps Fast
[8] MySpace – Mac Lethal
[9] Bandcamp – Mac Lethal
[10] Last.fm – Mac Lethal
[11] Social Times – Viral Radar: Pale Kid Raps Faster Than George Watsky
[12] Kontraband – PALE KID RAPS FASTER!
[13] Viral Viral Videos – Pale Kid Raps Faster – Mac Lethal Response Rap Video To George Watsky
[14] RapMusic.com Forums – Mac Lethal "Pale Kid Raps Faster!" hits one million views.
[15] Viral Video Chart – Pale Kid Raps Faster!
[16] Spin – Rapper Mac Lethal Stumbles Into Internet Fame With Hilarious Pancake Freestyle
[17] Perez Hilton – Nerdy Kid Kills Look At Me Now While Making Pancakes!
[18] Buzzfeed – White Guy Parodies Chris Brown's “Look At Me Now” While Cooking
[19] Huffington Post – Pancake 'Look At Me Now' Video From Mac Lethal, White Rapper
[20] NYMag – Watch a Guy Turn ‘Look at Me Now’ Into a Rap About Pancakes
[21] LA Weekly – Pancake Rap Spoofs Chris Brown's Look At Me Now
[22] CNN – Pancake rapper Mac Lethal on romantic cheesecake, BBQ and the second best cuisine on Earth
[23] Billboard – Mac Lethal Rides 'Pancake Rap' to Big Social 50 Debut
[24] Viral Video Chart – Nerdy white kid KILLS "Look at Me Now" (Mac Lethal)
[25] Tumblr – Texts From Bennett
[26] Twitter – @TextsFrmBennett
[27] Facebook – First Text From Bennett screen shot
[28] Facebook – Texts From Bennett
[29] The Smoking Gun – Sorry, There Is No Actual 17-Year-Old Named Bennett Writing Those Purported "Texts From Bennett"
[30] Metro – 'Texts from Bennett' might not be fake after all: A Q&A with creator Mac Lethal
[31] Mediaite – Update: ‘Texts From Bennett’ Creator And Father Rebuke ‘Out Of Line’ Smoking Gun Report\
[33] Buzzfeed – Texts From Bennett
[34] BroBible – Our Nine Favorite Texts From Bennett
[35] The Huffington Post – Texts From Bennett: Mac Lethal Speaks About His Internet Sensations
[36] International Business Times – ‘Texts From Bennett’ Blogger is YouTube Pancake Rapper
[38] Holy Taco – Texts from Bennett: Who is Bennett?
[39] Blue Collar Distro – Texts From Bennett
