McKinley Phipps, Jr. (born July 30, 1977),[1] better known simply as Mac, is an American rapper from New Orleans' 3rd Ward.
He began rapping as a child, releasing his debut album The Lyrical Midget at the age of 13 in 1990, under the stage name Lil Mac.
Mac would eventually sign with Master P's No Limit Records and would grow to be one of the most critically acclaimed artists on the label, both as a solo rapper and as a member of the super group 504 Boyz.
[3] He began his music career in 1990, and by the time he was 13 years old, under the name "Lil Mac", he released his debut album, The Lyrical Midget.
17 on the Billboard Hot 100 Phipps would be sentenced to a 30-year prison term for manslaughter after 19-year-old Barron C. Victor, Jr. died from a gunshot wound in a Louisiana nightclub in 2001.
Son of the City was released on October 31, 2022, with features from Fiend, D1, Curren$y,3d Na'tee, Cognac, Rayvon Neal, and many more.
On February 21, 2000, Phipps was scheduled to perform at Slidell, Louisiana nightclub Club Mercedes, but a fight broke out before the show that resulted in a gunshot that struck and killed 19-year-old Barron C Victor, Jr. after Victor attempted to break up the fight.
Days into the police investigation, Thomas Williams, a man who was working security that night at the club, confessed to shooting Victor after another patron charged him with a beer bottle.
[13] On March 25, 2015, rapper Killer Mike told students at Dillard University in New Orleans that it was unacceptable for authorities to use rap lyrics in the prosecution of Phipps: "If we let this stand, what you're going to see is that tool is going to be used to wipe out an entire potential generation of [artists] out of our community.
In the petition sent to the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole he seeks a commutation due to a "wrongful conviction and excessive sentence", as "evidence developed over the last two years" which includes, among other things, findings from MJP's investigation.