Killer Mike Doesn’t Waste His Words

 

Three decades deep into his career, Killer Mike is still finding new ways to tell his story.

His latest project is Michael & the Mighty Midnight Revival, Songs for Sinners and Saints, an epilogue to his 2023 album. The album features Mike with a live band, remixing some songs from the original version of the LP, with a majority of the project being completely new music. It was written just days after he won three Grammys and then was arrested after getting into a scuffle with a security guard. Similar to Michael, this new body of work harnesses the energy of the Southern Black church and imbues it with bars.

Mike borrows arrangements and choir vocals that you’d hear during a Sunday service, but he still leaves room to talk his shit, like on “‘Still Talk'n That Shit,” where he takes aim at his Grammy naysayers. The coronation was bittersweet for Mike; It was a contentious moment for some of hip-hop’s younger fans like Kai Cenat who were unfamiliar with Mike’s history in the game, and they felt like he didn’t deserve to win the Best Rap Album category over some of their faves like Travis Scott. Killer Mike didn’t take the slights to heart, though, because he felt like he earned everything he received.

“God will give you everything you want and you get all the good, but you get everything that comes with it,” Mike told Complex. “As an artist, I deeply have reverence for Travis Scott, he’s amazing. I'm never going to think anybody deserves anything in front of me, especially when I put in my best, but a lot of his fans, they don't like Mike now. And I have to accept that, that's fine.”

Killer Mike is still supremely confident in his abilities and believes that he can still rap alongside anybody in the game. When told he was No. 14 on Complex’s 50 Best Atlanta Rappers of All Time list, he was perplexed at the concept of any other artists ahead of him.

“Whoever the 13 niggas in front of me are, you put them on a track with me, it's going to be danger [Laughs],” Mike said. “I ain’t took no L to André 3000 on no songs. That’s my dog, but I ain’t never took no L… I'll let you guys argue over who's No. 1, but I'll tell you this —stylistically you've never seen an Atlanta rapper that’s mastered as many styles as me.”

Complex talked to Killer Mike about his new album, Songs For Sinners & Saints, his thoughts on how rap is being used during the 2024 presidential election, his place in Atlanta rap history, and more.

You describe this new album, Michael & the Mighty Midnight Revival, Songs for Sinners and Saints, as the epilogue to Michael. When were these songs written?

When I was in the studio smoking a joint [Laughs]. So I get detained after the Grammys, I get out, I go to the Concord [Label] party. I wake up after I thought I had the best day of my life winning three Grammys to the best day of my life in which my son, Pony Boy, got a kidney, which we had been waiting on since he was in the ninth grade. And I was just thankful to God. And after I got out of the debacle, I was right back in the studio. The next day I was in the studio with Mike WiLL [Made-It]. I never stopped working, and I'm never going to stop working. OutKast’s DJ, DJ Cutmaster Swift, gave me this sage wisdom 20 years ago that I've just now understood and started getting. He said, “Don't stop rapping.” You continuously got to go, so when you're in the off-season, that's when you stockpile your war chest. So when I get off tour, I'll probably give myself a week, maybe go someplace hot with my family so they can enjoy. But as long as they got air conditioning in the studio, I'm in.

You tweeted that you were reminded that tribulations never cease after the celebration of Michael. What were some of the trials that you faced that inspired this project?

God will give you everything you want and you get all the good, but you get everything that comes with it. As an artist, I deeply have reverence for Travis Scott, he’s amazing. I'm never going to think anybody deserves anything in front of me, especially when I put in my best, but a lot of his fans—they don't like Mike now. And I have to accept that, that's fine. But there's going to come a time in their life when their mother dies. There's going to come a time in their life when someone that they cared for deeply dies. And the question is, what song you going to pivot to? I happen to have a record called “Motherless” that acknowledges that. A lot of those fans are young men and they're trying to find their way. I listen to Travis and I jam, but man, does the record hit you like shedding tears when she won't let you see your child? When child support on your black ass for the mistakes you've made? That's what my music does. It's there for you. It's the blues baby.

So I'm there to take care of the whole human being and to speak to the whole human being. No matter how good you do, somebody going to be talking shit no matter what. No matter what good you do, no matter how many blessings you give, it's going to be somebody there talking shit. Right now, there's a member of the Black Intelligentsia who hates Michael because Michael—instead of graduating from Morehouse—dropped out of Morehouse. Instead of the politicians calling him, they calling Michael.

I didn't ask for that job. I just got blessed with a unique set of talents that were ready for the job, but what I chased was rapping. So my thing is, if you want my platform, take your bougie Black ass and get to practicing your bars motherfucker. I got something for that too. I have something for the whole human experience. My grandma said “The good come with the bad and sometimes the good suffers with the bad.” So I don't have no complaints about none of the blessings that I've gotten, but sometimes the blessings come with depression. They come with self-doubt. They come from insecurities and you got to re-get over them. You climb one mountain, you get the top of the mountain and you look off like, “Oh shit, it's a bigger mountain to climb,” but you got to climb down that mountain first and go through another valley. So for me, I accept it all as a blessing. I thought I had the best night of my life winning three Grammys. Then I was like, “Man, look at this undignified thing I'm suffering through with the police handling me like this and moving me.” And then the next morning, I wake up to the best news of my life. If I had brought my son out to the Grammys, he wouldn't have a kidney. Something said let him be home. So for me, I just take it all as God's will.

How much patience does it take to deal with all those tribulations and doubters simultaneously?

I'm not mad at it, but just know now I'm giggling at you. Lord, God bless his soul. I fuck with him, but I ain’t Mackelmore [Laughs].

You’re not going to apologize for winning.

No, because I earned it, I worked my ass off. I started this when nobody believed rap would even be here. I was nine years old. My teacher told me, “You too smart to be a rapper, go be an airplane pilot.” I learned how to fly planes at 15. But I kept believing. I got a record deal, it didn't go well after I was on some of the biggest songs in the world, the record deal still fell through. I still pursued. I went underground, I went mixtapes, I pushed, I met my current manager. He was co-owner of SMC records. He believed like I believed.

I remember the Rolling Stone put up “Top 50 songs of the year” [in 2011]. They put up my song “Rick Flair” and that gave me the encouragement to keep pushing. Jason DeMarco comes from the Cartoon Network and works with Williams Street Records. He says, “I want to give you an opportunity to make that kind of album you always wanted to make.” We make R.A.P Music, I meet El-P, we form a group. We take the next decade building that group and that brand. We take a break because the world takes a break with Covid [-19]. I sit there and figure, “Man, I've never really introduced the world to me.” Then I make Michael.

Have you been able to have a conversation with Kai Cenat since his comments about your Grammy win in February?

I haven't haven't talked to him. I'm not close to talking to anybody. I don't know Kai to have a problem with him or not. God bless his soul. I want to see everybody with talent and ingenuity win. So I don't have a problem with him being such a supporter that he supports his man in that way. That's fine. But you live in Atlanta, I live in Atlanta. Should you ever want to holler at me, I'm not hard to find.

What was your reaction to the third verse in “Not Like Us” where Kendrick broke down how he believes Drake was leeching off of Atlanta culture?

I don't have any opinion on that because that was they beef. It was good for rap because rap is poetry. So it was good for this generation to see it and I hope they keep it player, handle it like gentlemen, and that's a beautiful thing. In terms of his acknowledgment and what Atlanta was, I know he's a Killer Mike listener for his acknowledgment of me 10 years ago [on the “Hood Politics” verse]. I know he's an OutKast and a Goodie Mob listener because rap is based on styles. So I could tell that people always tend to name André 3000. But I could tell Big Boi pattern-wise, Kendrick is one of the most amazing pattern guys I've ever heard, him and [Lil] Wayne. 

I think that's part of the reason I got so attached to his music early on. It felt like the influence and evolution of, so I think Kendrick is amazing. I appreciate his acknowledgment of Atlanta because in my opinion, Atlanta to Black people in America, especially Black people that have been here since that first boat came in 1619, Atlanta represents to me what Mecca and Medina would be for Muslim people—holy cities. Something sacred, something worth protecting.

This year, Complex is ranking the 50 Best Atlanta Rappers of All Time. Who is your pick for #1?

I don't know who's the No. 1 Atlanta rapper. I know Outkast and Organized Noize changed the trajectory. I know Kriss Kross and Jermaine Dupri and what they did broke the ceiling open for us for everything else to come after that. I know every phase of the way we have influenced, whether that's T.I. and redefining our sound with trap music. To, rest in peace, people like RaRa who never got his proper shot. I think Atlanta is a phoenix. Our logo is a phoenix, and every two or three years, we burn ourselves down and then we come up with something in new creation to rise out of those ashes.

So I'll let you guys argue over who's No. 1, but I'll tell you this, stylistically you've never seen an Atlanta rapper that’s mastered as many styles as me. You've never seen an Atlanta rapper who could rap with Black Thought on Monday, rap with Bone Crusher on Tuesday, get on there with Freddie Gibbs on Wednesday, pop up next to whoever your favorite rapper is in on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and show up and show out every single time.

We ranked you No. 14 in our top 50 Atlanta rappers list that’s dropping in a few weeks. What’s your reaction to that placement?

I mean, it’s higher than I expected. I've been disrespected on past lists by not making them at all. I guess I should have gratitude that I made the top 20, but man, whoever the 13 niggas in front of me are, you put them on a track with me, its going to be danger [Laughs]. I ain’t took no L to Andre 3000 on no songs. That’s my dog, but I ain’t never took no L.

How do you think the absence of Young Thug has affected the city?

We miss him, and I'm glad to see so many people represent for him. It is good to see Ralo come home because Ralo’s rap career was fueling a lot of people's careers around him. Meaning, the brother bought the apartments he used to live in. He provided economic solutions, he didn't wait for people to come along and help him pop, he hired people. So I'm looking forward to when Thug comes home for the same thing to happen. When you lose a rapper, when you celebrate the fall of someone, you're celebrating the loss of 10, 20, 30, 40 jobs of people who provide economy, people who have to see after families. So I don't cheer seeing black people in bondage, and I'm pragmatic enough to cheer on my district attorney as she prosecutes people who are doing things illegally politically. And to say that I don't agree that rappers should be prosecuted according to their lyrics because that's a denial of our First Amendment rights.

So you have to be pragmatic in Atlanta as well. You have to understand it's an all Black city. All my heroes and villains always look like me. So in the absence of Thug, a lot of people who've borrowed his style have popped up, and it's only one slime. So I'm looking forward to him coming home and getting it in. And with that said, it's still a lot of great music coming out. [21] Savage is making some incredible music. Gunna is making some incredible music. Atlanta still holds the standard. When has Future not made music that doesn’t make the club go crazy? Your mama, your auntie, and your wife might leave you home with the children and go see the Pluto show. So I'm very proud of us as a scene and what we've been able to do. And I'm very proud in particular of Future because he's a representative of the Dungeon Family and having just lost Rico Wade, it’s good to see that essentially the family that started it with OutKast and Goodie Mob is the family that currently has a representative on the forefront of it.

Vice President Kamala Harris has quoted “Not Like Us” in a campaign commercial, and brought out Quavo and quoted “Walk It Talk It” in her rally in Atlanta. Donald Trump has also embraced memes of 50 Cent’s “Many Men” in relation to the failed assassination attempt on him. What do you think about how candidates are using hip-hop?

Well [Trump] did something very Atlanta specific too. [Kamala Harris] used a [Quavo] quote, which I thought was genius, that's what you do politically. Trump went a little deeper, he did some shit me and my buddy were like, “wow. He shouted out [Donovan] Nut [Thomas], God bless the dead.” People say, “Who's nut?” do your research. Then he shout out Washington Park, he shouted out Simpson Road. He shouted out places where Ralo from, and beyond the artists, he shouted out the places and the people. So I'm going to tell whoever's politically organizing from the Democratic side, I'm going to tell you like I've told the person sitting right next to Joe Biden. I'll tell you like I told the people when I supported her on the first round. I told the campaign Democrats on the Black side of town, they locked Trump up on the right street. Those people haven't seen y'all knock on their doors in a very long time. 

The Democratic party needs to get to the westside of Atlanta, starting right there at the old projects off Hollywood Road. You need to take it all the way down through South Fulton, all the way down through the swats. You don't have to be the candidate, I would like for the candidate to be out there, but if it's not, make sure your workers get to those doors. I’m telling y'all out there I don't care if you're running for a local seat and you're a Democrat. I don't care if you're running for a national seat, if the person organizing is not doing what James Orange did. And for those in politics, you know who I'm talking about when I say James Orange. If you're not knocking on these people's doors, you're not trying to win an election.

What is the delicate line between hip-hop being used for good in politics or, like in the case of Trump bringing out Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow in his rally in the Bronx, parading rappers as tools and using it to gain the Black vote?

Everybody uses Black people as a tool, and the question is, what is the tool going to get out of being used? That's what politics do. 

Go watch Gangs of New York, and look at who wins. In the end, all the poor people who were immigrants, some were born in America, they saw themselves as natural born Americans. The other had immigrated here. You had The Butcher who was the villain of it, and he was antagonizing the Irish priest and they were going at each other and all these poor people fighting and killing for elections. And at the end who was celebrating? The politicians. There's an oligarchy in this country. George Carlin said, “If there's a club and you ain't in it.” These people don't give a shit if you're a Democrat or a Republican, they care if you're going to vote for them because they have an agenda once they get in power. The question becomes for me, does their agenda match with the agenda for your community? And if it does not, what are you going to negotiate on the behalf of your community? That's all.