THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Michael marks celebrated MC and Run The Jewels co-founder Killer Mike’s first solo project since 2012’s critically lauded R.A.P. Music and serves as an introduction to the totality of Michael Render, a lifelong rap fiend whose consciousness is seeped in the sounds of community that raised him — multiple eras of southern rap flows, Sunday church service, and barbershop discourse. Speaking on his most autobiographical and independent album to date, Mike states “RTJ is the X-Men, this is my Logan.”
For the album’s first single Don’t Let The Devil, Mike linked up with his Run The Jewels partner in rhyme EL-P, trading verses over a lilting soul loop produced by No I.D., EL-P and Little Shalimar. “My favorite group (US) with my favorite producers!” said Mike. “It’s our 10 year anniversary and Michael is an origin story so I wanted to start w/ El.”
The single was preceded last year by Run (ft. Young Thug) and Talk’n That Shit!, his first solo material since linking up with El-P to form Run The Jewels in 2013. The duo have created four fanatically received albums and achieved near-cultural ubiquity. Beyond Run The Jewels, Killer Mike has been an active solo artist for over 20 years, releasing studio albums and mixtapes, while also collaborating on projects by some of the biggest names in hip-hop including Outkast, Jay-Z, Big Boi, T.I., Black Thought and more.
Killer Mike secured a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance Duo or Group for his collaboration with Outkast, The Whole World, and also featured on Poppin’ Tags off Jay-Z’s No. 1 and triple-platinum album The Blueprint 2: The Gift And The Curse.
Mike has also frequently surfaced as a cultural commentator in high regard, from his own shows Love And Respect and Trigger Warning to regular appearances on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Real Time with Bill Maher, to his stint as a campaign surrogate for Bernie Sanders, to viral moments addressing the public in the wake of the Ferguson verdict and the police killing of George Floyd. Most recently he re-asserted his acting bona fides in a cameo on Dave, adding to a growing dramatic CV that also included an appearance on the last season of Ozark.
Killer Mike is an advocate for the disenfranchised, a business owner, and a frequent public speaker on politics, race, and inequality in many communities. In 2020, his extensive work as a social justice activist earned him the first-ever Billboard Change Maker Award.”
