ALBUM REVIEW: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

I've never really had a religious experience, in a religious place.
Closest I've ever come to seeing or feeling God is listening to rap music.  Rap music is my religion.  Amen.

These days, there are rarely words that resonate with me perfectly.  To me, Michael Render's words at the beginning of the title track is the truest shit I ever heard.  To some, it may be hard to understand, especially if you are not a big fan of rap.  Listening to rap growing up provided sympathy, compassion, understanding, comfort, relaxation, community - well, pretty much everything that religion provides for others.  When you have preachers, parents, or both telling you what you should do as if they have never done it, rap always spoke to me as if it understood how I felt and spoke to me with honesty.  Rap did not judge me.  In fact, it empowered me to do the scariest thing to do these days - be myself.  At the end of the day, any music genre can be this to others, and it probably is.  Unfortunately, of all music genres, rap music always receives harsh criticism from in the media and politics, many of whom simply criticize out of their own ignorance, whether intentional or not, of hip hop culture. Now, there is definitely some rap out there that lacks some integrity and creativity, but it is always the music that has integrity that lasts the test of time.  With his sixth album entitled R.A.P. Music (Rebellious African People Music),  Michael Render aka Killer Mike has delivered such an album.

First, let me apologize again for being mad, mad late on this review.  In fact, I deserve to poke my eyes out with toothpicks.  When I was writing the review for his last album, Killer Mike had already released this album over 6 months beforehand.  This album should not have slipped under my radar but it did.  Once again, however, it's better late than never.  What changed between Pl3dge and R.A.P. Music for Killer Mike?  The biggest change is that Killer Mike elected to have underground hero and producer El-P handle all the beats for this album.  I was definitely a little put off by that, especially with how I felt Pl3dge was Mike's most complete album production-wise with more than one producer behind the boards.  In addition, I was not sure whether El-P's offbeat style would match with Mike's streetwise, aggressive rhetoric.  However, I remember reading about the same skepticism when Ice Cube enlisted the Bomb Squad to produce his first solo album after leaving N.W.A.  It ended up working so well that people were still clamoring for them to collaborate again, and with R.A.P. Music, it is no different.

Killer Mike waste no time with the opening track "Big Beast" featuring Bun B, T.I. and Trouble, opening the album with a fury and intensity that we have not heard since Amerikkka Most Wanted.  Man, I wish other artists had the guts to kick off an album like this:

Hardcore G shit, homie I don't play around 
Ain't shit sweet 'bout the Peach, this Atlanta, clown 
Home of the dealers and the strippers in the clubs doe 
Catch you comin out that Magic City with a snub, hoe 
Lurkin in the club, o' tourists muh'fuckers 
Welcome to Atlanta - up the jewelry, muh'fucker! 
These monkey niggaz lookin for some Luda and Jermaine 
And all that nigga found was a Ruger and some pain
...

I know some dumb country niggaz but them niggaz ain't weak
Know they dress and look the part but them niggaz ain't G
I don't make dance music, this is R.A.P.
Opposite, of that sucka shit they play on TV

Both Bun B and especially T.I. provide stellar verses, and Trouble nails the chorus.  What is most surprising is El-P's production.  The beat is uptempo, hits hard, and perfectly compliments Mike as he puts a lyrical beatdown on the listener.  Any doubt on the Killer Mike/El-P chemistry is now gone, even if it might fall short at some point.  Fortunately, it never does.  The following track "Untitled" featuring Scar has El-P slowing things down with a deep bass pattern alternating between two octaves and congas drumming in the background.  The beat itself is hypnotizing, but Mike makes sure his drops something to chew on as well.

ALBUM REVIEW: Killer Mike - Pl3dge

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).