Killer Mike
Meek Mill’s Album Artwork On Bus Sets Off Random & Controversial Video Rant
HipHopWired Featured Video The artwork for Meek Mill’s latest album has instigated a heavy conversation about art, expression, and perspective thanks to a viral video featuring a white man ranting about the cover’s promotional placement on a city bus. For his latest album, Expensive Pain, Meek was inspired by the artwork of Nina Chanel Abney and used her piece which depicts him surrounded by three nude women as his cover. Abney, a Black female contemporary artist whose work dives into the exploration of race, gender, pop culture, and homophobia among other subjects, is widely acclaimed for her art drawing comparisons to icons such as Jean Michel Basquiat. In promotion for the album, the cover was wrapped on a bus in Los Angeles, California. This bus caught the attention of an unnamed local...
Killer Mike Talks U.S. Capitol Raid and Georgia Election With Seth Meyers
Killer Mike and Seth Meyers discussed the unprecedented raid on the U.S. capitol, with the Run the Jewels rapper calling the events of Jan. 6 “evil. It is I-didn’t-get-my-way-ism. I don’t encourage what we saw,” he said on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night. He added, “essentially, it is violence.” The Atlanta-based rapper also shared his thoughts about the newly elected Democratic senators from his home state. On Rev. Raphael Warnock, a pastor and politician, Mike joked, “I’ll tell you one of the most beautiful things I saw. He ran a commercial holding a puppy. Because who could hate a person holding a puppy?” “More genius, I thought,” Mike added, was an opposing campaign video which called Warnock a “radical socialist.” Noting that he himself was not a member of any Abraham...
Watch Run the Jewels Lead an Action Figure Rebellion in New Video for ‘Walking in the Snow’
Run the Jewels are capping off their big year in style with their new music video for “Walking in the Snow.” After ending up on virtually everyone’s album/song/artist of the year lists (including being named SPIN’s Artist of the Year) for RTJ4, Killer Mike and El-P had one more gift to fans in their Santa-sized sacks. The new video is directed by Chris Hopewell, whose previous work includes the duo’s “Don’t Get Captured,” and transforms the rappers into action figures for a stop motion masterpiece. Much like their living counterparts, the toys spend the bulk of the video taking on an authoritarian figure and leading a revolution. “It was great to work with the RTJ guys again,” Hopewell said in a statement. “Everyone was very aware of the gravity of the subject matter and RTJ didn’t wa...
Artist of the Year: Run the Jewels
In a year filled with chaos, social reckoning, protests, rage and financial ruin, there appeared to be no light that would save the world from the roiling political issues that had been brewing for decades. There was no Death Star, though it would have surprised no one if the Earth imploded like Alderaan. At least we had the two heroes we definitely needed but didn’t deserve: Run the Jewels. In February, El-P and Killer Mike were gearing up for what was set to be the biggest year of their career. Run the Jewels had become a tour de force with each of their studio albums (and of course, the cat-themed remix album Meow the Jewels), and opening for Rage Against the Machine on the band’s latest reunion tour would have opened up the duo to a much wider audience. Then, March 2020 happened. The p...
Killer Mike Keeps It Real About Trump Supporters Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, Kanye West & More
Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz You can always count on Killer Mike to share his honest and sometimes brutal political opinions. In a recent episode of notable Wu-Tang Clan fan John Heilemann’s Hell & High Water with John Heilemann podcast, Killer Mike kept it real on current hot button political topics. The Run The Jewel’s member shared his thoughts on Lil Wayne’s Trump support, Ice Cube politicking with the Trump administration, plus the Democratic and Republican party’s current state. When it comes to Lil Wayne, the Atlanta rapper admitted he is still a fan of Weezy and suspects that Team Trump threw some cash at the Young Money general that anyone, even himself, would think about taking. “I don’t know why Wayne did the endorsement. I’m still a Lil Wayne fan. He is one of th...
Kanye West Wins Billboard Music Awards In Gospel Category, Killer Mike Honored
Source: Kevin Mazur/BBMA2020 / Getty Last night’s Billboard Music Awards went down and while Post Malone walked away the night’s biggest winner with 9 extra trophies to display on the mantle in his home, Kanye West also got some recognition for his new venture into the world of gospel music. Though his gospel album Jesus Is King was received to mix reviews and mostly praised by Donald Trump Jr. (we wonder why), Yeezy walked away with Top Gospel Artist, Top Christian Album, Top Gospel Album, and Top Gospel Song awards by the time the night was done. Kirk Franklin is somewhere cursing the heavens over this, maybe. Still, at the end of the day it is basically a popularity contest and no disrespect to Mr. Franklin, but Kanye West is way more known outside of gospel circles so we’re not surpris...
Killer Mike To Earn Change Maker Recognition At Billboard Music Awards
Source: Prince Williams / Getty Killer Mike is known for not only his savvy rapping abilities but also for his political activism and hard-hitting analysis. The Run The Jewels star will receive the first ever Change Maker Award during the Billboard Music Awards. As reported by Billboard, the Change Maker Award “recognizes an artist or group that speaks truth to power through their music and celebrity.” Born Michael Render, Killer Mike’s profile as a supporter of civil rights, social justice, and pushing positive change in the inner cities and other communities has become as much his calling as making music. As one half of Run The Jewels with fellow revived Hip-Hop mainstay in El-P (Jaime Meline), KM’s alignment with Bernie Sanders and his tireless media run speaking on behalf of dise...
Killer Mike’s Black-Owned Bank Garners More Than 10,000 New Account Requests In Less Than 24 Hours
Source: Greenwood / Greenwood Killer Mike‘s mission to assist in building Black wealth and spending within the community has kicked off with major success. After announcing his latest venture Greenwood, a digital bank launched with his close friend, Bounce TV founder Ryan Glover, the leadership team at Greenwood, which includes former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, unveiled their new platform on Thursday after raising more than $3 million in seed funding in June. “It’s no secret that traditional banks have failed the Black and Latinx community,” Ryan Glover said in a statement. “We needed to create a new financial platform that understands our history and our needs going forward, a banking platform built by us and for us, a platform that helps us build a stronger future for our communities. T...
Killer Mike Explains Why He Met with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on Kimmel
When Killer Mike met with Georgia governor Brian Kemp last month, and later welcomed the Republican politician for a haircut at one of his barber shops, it raised some eyebrows. During a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Friday, the Run the Jewels rapper explained his motives for the meeting. “People were upset, and now I don’t understand because when you pay taxes in this municipality — including city, state and county — you should want to meet with your county officials,” he said. “[My grandmother] and grandfather were really sure to raise me to be a responsible member of the community, and that responsibility is not just about taking care of your own yard, taking care of bigger community,” the activist continued. “So I think you should meet with elected officials, and I had the opport...
Run the Jewels to Perform RTJ4 on First-Ever Adult Swim Music Broadcast
Run the Jewels want you to vote. And they’re about to make history to make it happen. On Monday, Killer Mike and El-P announced that their critically acclaimed rap group will put on Adult Swim’s first-ever musical broadcast as they perform their new record RTJ4. The “Holy Calamavote” performance — brought together by Adult Swim and Ben & Jerry’s — will see the duo run through the entirety of the record on Oct. 10 at 12 a.m. “We’re proud to be a part of this initiative to encourage and enable voting and can’t wait to finally perform our album RTJ4. This will be fun,” the pair said in a joint statement. The main goal of the performance isn’t to necessarily share the tracks live for the first time, it’s to get fans to cast ballots on Nov. 3. “Adult Swim is honored to be a p...
Killer Mike Is ‘Optimistic’ About the Future Following Protests
As the protests for Black Lives Matter continue, Killer Mike says that he is optimistic about the future due to people’s actions. “Instead of the audience just looking like me, because it’s a Black issue, it’s a combination of all people, races and ethnicities coming out,” he told NME. “I’m optimistic about the opportunity to organize, even though I’m not optimistic about government or world leaders. I’m not optimistic about times led by oligarchs, but I am totally optimistic because of what I’ve seen from people in the American streets and globally over the last 60 days,” he continued. This isn’t the first time that the Run the Jewels rapper has spoken out. When the protests started in May, he delivered a moving speech directed at protestors in Atlanta and popped up to...
Killer Mike Is ‘Mad as Hell’ and ‘Saddened Beyond Consolation’ Over Rayshard Brooks’ Killing
Killer Mike has been quite vocal following the death of George Floyd at the hand of Minneapolis police officers last month, and on Saturday the rapper spoke out after another black man was killed by cops — this time in his hometown of Atlanta. On Friday, Rayshard Brooks was shot in the back and killed after a Wendy’s employee called police to report a man sleeping in their drive-thru. “#RayshardBrooks should be alive this morning. He should be waking up (hungover or drunk in the tank depending on whether he was apprehended) and not dead,” the Run The Jewels emcee wrote on Instagram, before putting himself in the shoes of those who witnessed the 27-year-old’s murder. “If I’m the Wendy’s worker who called the police, I feel like shit this morning because a call for a man slee...
