I had one thought as I locked up my bicycle outside of Bottom Lounge, directly in front of the tour bus carrying Killer Mike, El-P and Mr. MFN Exquire. My only thought was that hopefully none of them would walk out of the bus to see their eventual-interviewer chain lock an undersized bike to the street sign and mistake me for an eager underage fan. It didn’t help I was wearing a Moses Malone throwback jersey from the St. Louis Spirits. And even though I knew I was thoroughly prepared to speak with the artists, I wasn’t necessarily ready for what I got from longtime veteran, and uberly slept on Atlanta emcee, Killer Mike.
Some Hip Hop fans may only know Mike from his standout 2004 single “A.D.I.D.A.S” and popular Outkast feature “The Whole World”. Yet, After the 2011 release of Pl3dge and this year’s R.A.P. Music, Killer Mike has cemented himself as one of Hip Hop’s most outspoken emcees, shedding light on the reality of our nation and the unjust nature of our society. Mike is able to analyze the issues deeper than any rapper out in 2012.
“That’s what has allowed me to understand the issues that we face are less race, and more class based,” Mike says. “Because economically I’ve been discriminated on by other blacks, economically I’ve seen the difference between the designed poor, working class, and rich blacks.” he continues, sitting behind his table on the bus with countless papers in front of him and his cellphone seriously gripped, as if he is trading stocks before his set.
During our interivew, I spoke to Mike about his newest project with El-P, the origins of his rapping influences, as well as discussing the future of the genre and the newer emcees he sees leading the way. Check it out.