Already known as half of rap super-duo Run The Jewels and for collaborations with Outkast and Big Boi (“The Whole World”), Killer Mike is now ready to bring his solo career to the forefront.
The 48-year-old Atlanta rapper, born Michael Render, says it’s time to show the whole world who he is—a married father of four, a political activist, and a fighter who’s triumphed against all odds.
“There are things that are Michael Render,” says Mike. “I’ve never introduced myself to the world. Or maybe some people never took the time to listen to me to know who I was. So I felt like a proper introduction was needed—and this album introduces Michael.”
Fittingly, Michael is the title of Killer Mike’s fifth solo album—the artist’s first in 11 years—and his most personal.
With features from his RTJ collaborator, El-P, as well as Atlanta rap royalty like Future, Young Thug, and Andre 3000 (with whom he got his start) and backing from The Midnight Revival gospel choir, the 14-track LP paints the definitive portrait of a lifelong rap fiend’s rise to stardom while grappling with poverty, a former girlfriend’s pregnancy, and the loss of his mother and grandmother.
The yearbook photo of nine-year-old Render adorned with a drawn-on halo and devil’s horns featured on the album cover is meant to showcase the future rapper’s heart of gold and mischievous spirit as a young boy.
To walk listeners through his inspiring journey, Mike presented his new record to friends, fans, and colleagues in a series of intimate listening sessions, over the last few months, where he shared his writing and recording process and contextualized the album with added autobiographical details.
As he unleashes the record on wider audiences across the country via his 20-date The High & Holy Tour, hitting the Fillmore Sat/29, the Southern rapper-lyricist known for his percussive flows and raw emotion spoke with me about his past, his full-circle career milestone, and the role that San Francisco played in his development as an activist.
48 HILLS When you look at your old yearbook photo on the cover of this album, what goes through your mind? And what would you tell your younger self to prepare him for his life ahead?
KILLER MIKE I wish I could go back and tell that kid, “Hey, man, with your imagination, this shit is going to work.” Because that kid was just a little mischievous, heart-of-gold motherfucker, who wanted to be a badass MC.
Along the way, he was met with challenges. I don’t mean the way people usually meet challenges in a cliché way. I’ve had hard times. But challenges that confirm that you’re bright, you’re beautiful, and you’re brilliant.
They will say, “Hey, you don’t want to be a rapper.” I remember my fourth-grade teacher saying, “You’re smart; you should be a pilot.” So when I got an opportunity to learn how to fly planes at 15 with Slim from 112, I went and learned because my teacher had challenged me to do so. I came back and told her I enjoyed learning how to fly a plane but still want to be an MC.
I think that little kid learned lessons from his grandparents that he took into adulthood. I think that little kid saw the world as a place of opportunity versus a place of no opportunity. And I think that because his imagination and his optimism were so intense, they still fuel the man with a wonderful wife and children and with good standing in his community that you’re talking to today.
48 HILLS Subject-wise, Michael is your most personal album to date. How difficult was it for you to share such intimate details from your life on the record?
KILLER MIKE I just got the thing out that I needed to share. As you develop, you learn new things about yourself. But the things that I said on this album I’ve long needed to say in terms of “Motherless,” “Shed Tears,” and “Something For Junkies.” These are just itches that I’ve been wanting to scratch for years.
If you look at “Down by Law”—that song started the last year of Obama’s presidency where I say free Mutulu Shakur, who was finally given a compassionate release months ago and died a few days ago. God bless the dead. He died at home with his family versus being in prison. I wish President Obama had pardoned him years ago, but he didn’t. But I left that line in there so people could see how far back the wants and desires of that song go.
48 HILLS What do you want people to learn about your journey from this album?
KILLER MIKE That I’m still on it. I’ve been on a 20-year journey making dope music, doing dope features, and being, in the last decade, one-half of the dopest duo going. But the people had never met me. Now they’ve met me so I feel like a new journey is beginning.
48 HILLS Your career jumped off after your feature on the 2000 Outkast record, Stankonia. Now you have Andre 3000 on one of your new tracks, “Scientists & Engineers.” Does it feel like a full-circle moment?
KILLER MIKE I’m happy to have done it. Big Boi and I have tons of records together. It’s always, anytime he’s in the studio, I just go and jump and start rapping. Dre knows I don’t see him as often, but having started my career with him, I value and love rocking with him.
For me, it’s a full-circle moment I’ve spent 20 years building. I spent 20 years building a career-high. I was given the opportunity to change my life by Outkast. I’m eternally grateful to Andre for that. So it was a homecoming for us.
48 HILLS Since you’re coming to San Francisco this weekend, I’m curious to hear about your history in the 7×7.
KILLER MIKE First time I came to San Francisco was in 1996 when I was an organizer trying to learn some methodology from the activist group Raising Interest in Social Equality (R.I.S.E. UP). I remember staying in Richmond and going to Mission Street and just seeing how it was obliterated by drugs. But we met people with kind hearts and goodwill down there, and it taught me a lot.
But if you’re a rap fan and start talking about San Francisco, Oakland, and Richmond, it’s such a rich history and partnership between Atlanta and the Bay Area. You always feel at home.
So I’ve done everything from the corny tourist stuff like ride the trolleys to get chocolate while talking to people from an organizing standpoint to understand what’s going on there. It’s a beautiful city.
48 HILLS You are clearly all about social justice on and off your records yet you reject being called a “political rapper.” Why?
KILLER MIKE I don’t look at it like that. Being Black in this country is a political statement in itself because you don’t have a choice. So much of America is based on race or class. So many men have served 10, 15, and 20-year sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. Now that a drug like marijuana has opened up in the last decade, it has made billions for non-Black people, non-brown people. I think that’s unfair and borderline evil.
So I think we, as policy progressives, should push for things to be more fair. We should push to ensure that people most affected by bad drug policies get the first opportunity.
One thing I’m doing, in particular, is working with Ben [Cohen] from Ben & Jerry’s on the marijuana company that he founded, Ben’s Best Blnz. I’m on the board and it tends to help close the gap and help minorities be in it from growing to dispensaries to holding the license. And I have a lot of respect for the OG for that.
KILLER MIKE AND THE MIDNIGHT REVIVAL: THE HIGH & HOLY TOUR Sat/29, The Fillmore. $45.Tickets and more info here.
