THE RETURN OF KILLER MIKE
The hard-hitting Atlanta rapper gets personal on his first album in 11 years
IN THE AUGHTS, Killer Mike was a fiery maelstrom, the South’s answer to Ice Cube, and an Atlanta polemicist comfortable with both dope-boy fantasies and bruising Black politics. But it’s been 11 years since R.A.P. Music, a classic pairing with rapper-producer El-P that inspired the two to form the world-conquering duo Run the Jewels. On his sixth album, Michael, the rapper focuses on his personal life, with uncharacteristic empathy and restraint, even as he continues to utilize his uniquely brusque vocal style.
Michael is a collaboration with No I.D., the Chicago producer and label exec not only known for his Nineties classics with Common but also for adding flourishes to recent epics like Jay-Z’s 4:44 and Vince Staples’ Summertime ’06. His maximalist impulses result in a cascade of gospel cries and church-y organs. A panoply of guests lends a hand, from El-P on “Don’t
Let the Devil” to Young Thug on “Run.” There are some welcome surprises, including a rare André 3000 cameo (alongside Future, no less) on “Scientists & Engineers.”
All of these celebrity guests, spiritual uplift, and florid old-soul samples may be anathema to hardcore rap fans. Meanwhile, anyone waiting for Mike to explain his increasingly complicated politics, and how he went from Bernie fan to supporting Georgia’s GOP governor, will have to make do with the undeniably thrilling yet frustratingly vague “Talkn’ That Shit!” “Niggas talk to me about that woke-ass shit/ Same niggas walkin’ on some broke-ass shit,” he raps over a memorably grimy beat from DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia and TWhy Xclusive.
Despite the sometimes-overwrought musical backdrop, Killer Mike remains an incisive and compelling lyricist who confidently takes Michael into unexpected places. On “Slummer,” he describes how a teenage romance led to an unforeseen pregnancy. “They call it adolescence ’cause we learnin’ adult lessons,” he observes. The fact that Mike now portrays abortion as a simple matter of life and health will be a shock to those who remember him accusing Planned Parenthood of “planning miscarriages” on Run the Jewels’ “A Christmas Fucking Miracle.”
“It is evident I do better when I feel like the world against me and think I should never win,” he raps on “Two Days.” Yet it’s clear that Michael is written from a musician, activist and, uh, landlord at the height of fame and personal growth. Some will understandably feel that his journey to the mountaintop was more interesting than the winner’s circle he sits comfortably in now. It’s all grist for a man who stays “high and holy,” haters be damned.