The journey of Michael Render aka Killer Mike has been an
interesting and incredible one.
First of all, he had the unbelievable fortune of starting off under the
wings of hip hop legends OutKast.
He made his debut on OutKast’s Stankonia
in 2000 on the track “Snappin’ and Trappin’” and went on to make a memorable
appearance on Dungeon Family’s Even in
Darkness as well as OutKast’s Grammy Award winning single “The Whole
World.” With the increased mainstream
exposure and underground following that he had already fostered, many people,
including Killer Mike, expected big things from his debut album Monster, which was released in 2003 on
OutKast’s Aquemini Records.
However, things did not work as planned. While Monster received critical acclaim and had a radio hit single in
“A.D.D.I.D.A.S.,” the album failed to sell up to everyone’s expectations. It’s funny because the album sold over
$500k, which is a sales figure that a lot of artists would kill for nowadays. With artists like Eminem, Jay-Z, 50
Cent, and Nelly selling at least 2 million albums at the time, an artist selling
only 500K was looked at as a flop.
Let Killer Mike tell it, he failed to recoup any royalties from his
album because the sales were below expectations (he is okay with it,
though). To add insult to injury,
Aquemini Records folded after Monster
was released and after Andre 3000 decided that he did not want to be part of
running the record label. Big Boi
went on to form his own label Purple Ribbon, and he brought Killer Mike with
him. However, Killer Mike’s Ghetto Extraordinaire album was never
released due to multiple delays and was eventually shelved. The frustration in getting his
album out prompted Killer Mike to take matters into his own hands and form his
own imprint, GrindTime, accompanied by the catchy phrase “GRIND TIME RAP GANG,
BANG, BANG, BANG!” Mike’s move
created tension between him and Big Boi and even led to a public feud between
them (fortunately, they later squashed the beef).
Free from the majors, Killer Mike embarked on a solo career
where he controlled his own destiny.
In fact, he adopted the mantra of “firing your boss” and following your
dreams, and he preaches this in many of his interviews and lectures. It is Killer Mike’s insight and
inspirational interviews that increased his appeal and made me pay more
attention to his music. Based on
his work with OutKast, we knew Mike had talent, but we were not aware of his
depth and intelligence until he went out on his own. I am not sure whether he developed these ideas after leaving
Big Boi or had suppressed them while under OutKast’s wing. Either way, the world is better for it
much in same way that the world is better for having Immortal Technique
releasing his own music (like I said in the Tech review, I feel that he
somewhat laid the foundation for Killer Mike to do what he wanted to do with
his career).
Last year, the world was greeted with another release from
Mr. Render: the third installment of his I
Pledge Allegiance to the Grind series, simply titled Pl3dge. There is a
little something for everyone here.
Killer Mike chills out with “Players Lullaby”, featuring Rock D and Twista, as well as on the track “Swimming.” He also gets it crunk with “Go
Out On The Town”, featuring Young Jeezy and the track “Animal”, featuring Gucci
Mane. While I was never a huge fan
of this style, Killer Mike can do these types
of songs and do them convincingly. Tracks like the aforementioned
“A.D.D.I.D.A.S.,” “Gorilla Pimpin” and Get Em Shawty” exemplify this. In addition, Mike has always tried
to throw in some straight up emceeing/shit talking, which is great for riding
around town or standing in your b-boy stance looking like a badass. Some of his best work is contained on Pl3dge. Frequent beat provider Smiff and Cash provide the background
on the opening track “So Glorious”, where Killer Mike’s rhymes make you feel
like part of the celebration of his success. No ID provides the beat for the lead single “Ready Set Go”,
featuring T.I., as well as the remix including a hot verse from Big Boi.
One of the true highlights of the album is the track “Ric
Flair” produced by Sweatbox Productions.
The “hook” for the song contains excerpts from the legendary wrestler of
the same name, doing some of his memorable promos. As a longtime fan of pro-wrestling, I definitely found this
enjoyable and delightfully nostalgic.
At the end of the day, these excerpts actually outshine Mike’s verses,
but it is always hard to outboast the Nature Boy Ric Flair. To that end, Killer Mike does his
thing:
To make it out the ice
cold streets of the city
Your mindstate gotta
be as wicked as Fiddy
Can't love life
suckling on mama's titty
Cause life is a bitch
and a bitch ain't with it
You gotta have faith
livin' life on Biggie
I'm ready to die for
the money, who is with me?
Life after death, hey
this must be hell
I asked for six
figures, God gave back self
I'm on my way to
heaven in a Porsche 911
Buried in my car, I'm
surrounded by a harem
Surrounded by my
brethren, my funeral is legend
Buried like a pharaoh
with my jewelry in the desert
The government will
hate me like Jesus, but fuck 'em
I did it for the
grind, I did it for the hustle
While Mike knows how to rhyme with anyone, he truly shines
when he ventures into his more political/socially conscious realm. In the past, Killer Mike has tried to
balance these offerings with his club/street anthems, but he was never able to
find a good yin and yang between them.
However, he finally gets it right on Pl3dge,
releasing some of his best music period.
For starters, this album has two sequels of his best songs from his
previous albums - “That’s Life”
from Vol. 1 and “God In The Buiding” from Vol. 2. The sequel to the latter has Killer Mike spitting some of the
most spiritual words that he has ever spoken, though the overall appeal fails
to completely live up to the original.
The sequel to the former, however, picks up right where “That’s Life”
left off, shooting fire and venom at all the pundits, politicians, and
celebrities with their hypocrisy and elitist agendas. No one is safe from Killer’s wrath. It is the third verse, however, that
really shines, showing how similar two opposing forces can be to each other and
the dangers that come with it:
Mr. Beck, Mr.
O'Reilly, Mr. Limbaugh, Mr. Hannity
How could you sell
white America your insanity?
You tell them that
they're different and manipulate their vanity
When truthfully,
financially their life is a calamity
Otherwise they would
be listening to Dave Ramsey
So they're about as
broke as the people that they don't want to be
Convincing them that
rich Republicans is what they going to be
So they act like
Ronald Reagan and like him they awful actors
Who look up to the
rich like dumb kids look up to rappers
And that's about as
dumb as a donkey pulling a tractor
Yes, that's a
demograph diss, I'm a detractor
So whether you vote
right or vote left is not a factor
When you ain't got no
care for your health, Hey, this America
They going to put your
ass in debt, something terrible
So you can disrespect
presidents and call them socialists
But Palin and Pelosi
both going to have you broke as shit, bitch
He continues with the track “Burn,” which could have been
the protest anthem for the Occupy Wall Street protesters last year. The slow moving beat along with the
catchy “yeah, yeah, yeah” and Killer Mike’s anger ridden retort of “Burn … this
mutha…fucka…down” just begs replay and repeat. The intensity does not end with the chorus as Mike makes
sure his anger is not for nothing:
They say a nigga can't
get a job but can get arrested
Thought shit was
changing with this black president shit
My bitch got me fucked
up, going to get tested
Cause while I was
locked up, she was living reckless
Just another odd deal
a real nigga got a deal with
If you want the bottom
right man you gotta feel this
I know that you're
frustrated and you wanna kill shit
Stockpile your weapons
cause that day may come real quick
…
They say love Jesus
and listen to your pastor
But Jesus told the
truth and the pastor's a lying bastard
All he talk about is
economic elevation
And all Jesus talked
about soul salvation
Jesus sat with the
sick and He walked with the poor
If He gave blood for
what's seeing why we give him more?
I got some gangster
disciples and church with me tonight
With 5 dollars worth
of gas and match book to light
Sweatbox Productions provides the beat for this as well as
for the stellar “American Dream Prelude” and “American Dream,” making them the
catalyst for many of Killer’s best moments. All the other producers bring it as well, and with that,
Killer Mike brings his most complete album to date. It is amazing to see his growth since he first came on to
the scene, and to me, by moving out of OutKast’s shadow, he has done something
that no one thought he could do. Many
people fear doing what he did because of the responsibility that it would
entail and the criticism that many face if they fail. Mr. Render put all the haters on mute and focused on his
craft, and it paid off. Killer
Mike sounds more confident and ambitious than he ever has before, and if he
continues with this focus, the sky is the limit. Killer Mike, I salute you.
