"Here we are. The act of having to write this at all feels surreal," his family wrote in a statement shared to Mac's Instagram page.
"At the time of his passing, Malcolm was well into the process of recording his companion album to Swimming, entitled Circles."
"Two different styles complementing each other, completing a circle — Swimming in Circles was the concept." the statement continued.
"He had been working with Jon Brion, who after hearing some early versions of songs, cleared his calendar to help Malcolm fine-tune them. After his passing, Jon dedicated himself to finishing Circles based on his time and conversations with Malcolm. We are eternally grateful to Jon and to those who gave their best to the difficult and emotional task of putting out this body of work."
"This is a complicated process that has no right answer. No clear path. We simply know that it was important to Malcolm for the world to hear it. One of the most difficult decisions in the process is how best to let people know about it — how to communicate meaningfully while keeping sacred what should be sacred. So this will be the only post on any of his channels," the family wrote.
"Thank you to all the fans who’ve supported him unconditionally through the years. We miss him. We are left to imagine where Malcolm was going and to appreciate where he was.
"We hope you take the time to listen. The look on his face when everyone was listening said it all. with humility and gratitude. Malcolm’s family."
Mac's fifth studio album, Swimming, was released just one month before his death.
The Grammy-nominated rapper was found dead inside his home on September 7, 2018, after consuming a fatal combination of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol, he was 26-years-old.