Killer Mike
By Matt Sonzala

Why did you sign your deal with Columbia?

I signed my deal because I was already selling tapes and shit on the street. I signed my deal cause I was like fuck it, I can stop selling dope and use this record deal money to fucking fund what the fuck I'm doing. Now of course some things changed like I realized how difficult it is, but that hasn't stopped my focus. I want to do the type of art that I believe is valid, invaluable. Get out there and get its fair day.

A lot of folks been putting out underground mix tapes in Atlanta these days. T.I.'s been putting some out.

Yeah, T.I., Jelly's been putting some out. I'm about to go do his mix tape when we finish this interview.

I feel like a lot of the artists on your level currently, they take it as such a business sort of thing and are either over the top with the hip hop shit, or they don't respect it at all. It seems like you have a great respect for the music and keep a good balance within your career.

I do. I have a great respect for the music and my philosophy is one that's maturing and learning how to peddle my art instead of selling it. Because once you get into the habit of selling what you do, that's when you get comfortable with selling out. Like I was talking to Bun B just this morning and I was really just thanking him for sharing a lot of his life experience and mentoring me and shit so I don't make a lot of the same mistakes that were made by his generation of rappers. Now that's not a criticism. That's just saying like Bun told me, he was like to some degree they didn't reach back. And that was like to some degree because a lot of the rappers before them didn't reach out. So I reach back because Bun reaches out. It's a shame that my 15 year old cousin doesn't know the Niggaz 4 Life album. His rap history starts at The Chronic. I tell cats in the streets if your biggest influence is Outkast, Biggie, Pac, if those are the dudes that really made you start rappin' then you really don't stand a chance against me. Because they influences are who I listen to. I'm listening to Eric B. & Rakim, I'm listening to Run DMC, I'm listening to Spice 1, I'm listening to the Geto Boys first 2 albums. UGK, 8Ball & MJG. Skinny Pimp. I'm listening to the music they pull from to inspire them. You'd be crazy if you don't think Scarface inspired Pac to some degree. You literally in pain if you don't hear that. You'd be crazy if you think Snoop wasn't inspired by NWA. I want to make sure that that rich history is preserved and held in the light it should be.

Would you say that the average MC doesn't have respect for the art behind the music? Because there was a while when even UGK said "fuck hip-hop, we don't make hip-hop. We make country rap tunes."

I think what happens is frustration. I say on one of my songs. "This is rap-n-roll, fuck your hip-hop." I think what people are saying is not like fuck the fundamentals of hip-hop. We're not saying fuck what Bambattaa, what Kool Herc, what Grandmaster Flash done, and what those poor kids in the Bronx River Projects started. We're saying fuck the corporate co-opting entity that you're trying to force us into. Fuck becoming a commercial for a corporation. If what you're trying to do is make us walking, talking, breathing commercials, then fuck that. That's what we're saying. It's not that I don't think rappers have the respect for it. I think that people have not been educating themselves about what we do. Like we aren't becoming smart artists. When people start talking about underground rap it's a shame that all they think they are talking about is guns and violence. I remember when Public Enemy was underground rap. Dead Prez should be sitting next to any gun toting gangsta group in any of these publications cause the shit that they say man is just as revolutionary and just as important as what Public Enemy was saying and what NWA was saying. I tell people all the time "Black Cop" and "Fuck the Police" are just as important to hip-hop as when Chuck D first said "I got a letter from the government the other day." Like you listen to "Dirty Money" and what Bun and Pimp were saying on that song that's probably the most politicized song that's ever been written. People don't understand the intelligence that goes into this music. When we demoralize it ourself, what do we expect other people to do with it? At the end of the day, whether we gangstas or whether we revolutionaries, it all leads to the same place. Death or jail. So as gangstas, why don't we politicize our minds? And muthafuckas who claim to be politicized, why don't you associate with the people most in need? And those are the people who are gangstas, are thugs, at the bottom of the barrel.

I agree with that 100%. I do a radio show on a community station that is run by activists, and it's a pretty radical station. But I've gotten some criticism from some of the people in the activist community who say I don't play enough conscious stuff. And I say man, everything I play is conscious.

Yeah man like niggas kill me in two ways. Niggas kill me. What the fuck you mean conscious? I'm gonna tell you something man, I don't listen to a lot of Common. And it's not because I'm not a fan of Common, it's just that Common was most conscious to me when he said "I'm somewhere between alcoholism and afrocentricity." Because that's a conscious thought. To admit that I'm in a place where I'm weak. That's the book Soul on Ice, paraphrased in one line. That's Eldridge Cleaver nigga. That's Huey P. Newton. What you have to understand is conscious music is only as good as the collective consciousness of the people. So if your people in dire straits and they saying they want to be better, something fucked up, something wrong, if you not starting your conversation right there, iyou starting your conversation above them, your consciousness ain't shit. It don't mean nothing.

Sometimes when you hear a song that you feel is over the top, like they say "bitch" or whatever, there's something conscious about that too. It should make you think about why they say that, or where that came from.

Exactly. The best thing about the Dead Prez movement and the best thing about the God-body movement that the Wu Tang re-introduced to rap is the fact that they said "nigga." And I'm not saying nigga is a pretty word, but what I'm saying is nigga is the word of the day and nigga grabs your attention quick. Cause we ain't got to the point where we see each other as brothers yet. We ain't got to the point where we see each other as comrads yet. We don't even understand the concept man. Dead Prez understand that. And that's why they can say nigga. Cause they realize that once they say nigga and they got your attention, they can give you something you can understand, and I'm gonna give it to you in simple words. Rap has never been about being better than the people. It's always been about people bettering themselves and finding people exactly where they are and starting with that point.

I was listening to your cut "Rap Is Dead." And that's a deep cut. My first question about that is do you really listen to Bad Brains?

Yeah Dre introduced me to them. I do listen to 'em. I'm surprised you caught that. A lot of people missed that line. I got into them a little late but I love them. Dre bought a book on the history of punk and they weren't even mentioned in it. It was one that was put out by Time or Rolling Stone or some shit. You see how we get written out of history? Think about it. If it wasn't for Murder Dog, Spice 1, UGK, 8Ball & MJG, Mac Mall, E-40, all these people could be written out of history. Seriously. If it wasn't for a publication like Murder Dog.

BG
solid crew
wolf town recordings
narcocorrido
x-ecutioners
spice
swizz beatz
paris
c-bo
nelly
the grind family
dead prez
brotha lynch hung
dayton family
wc
NAS
mike mosley
kottonmouth kings
fat joe
lil jon & the east side boyz
david banner
insane clown posse
too $hort
dirty
DJ screw
DLT
E-40
eastsidaz
eightball
fredo
ghetto mafia
jt money
st lunataics
mac mall
pastor troy
petey pablo
project pat
rass kass
sammysam
the shinin
shocklee
tech n9ne
the click
xzibit
bg
a-damn-shame
doc
fifty cent
jt the bigga figga
proof
zion
bone crusher
fiend
freeway
technine
bravehearts
Chingo Bling
Diplomats
Killer Mike
State Property
Willie-D