Before being one half of the popular duo Run The Jewels, Killer Mike was a solo artist. Another great duo, OutKast, gave him his first chance to shine, notably on the song The Whole World, which won a Grammy in 2002. Released the following year, the album Monster achieved some commercial success.
What followed was more difficult for Killer Mike. Until he met El-P in 2011. Their alliance first gave birth to Michael Santiago Render’s excellent fifth album, R. A. P. Music. The Run The Jewels adventure officially began in 2013 and its triumph has only increased with every release and tour.
Thus, more than 10 years after his last solo album, Killer Mike offers Michael. In addition to the title, the portrait of him aged 9 on the cover sets the tone: this work is close to the heart.
“This shit is so Atlanta,” he says at the end of the first track, the heartfelt Down By Law. The rapper was born, raised, and still resides in Georgia’s capital. You can hear it in the flow, the subject, the music, the gospel choir and the collaborators. CeeLo Green, Young Thug, 6lack, Jagged Edge, Future, 2 Chainz, several “ATLiens” contributed brilliantly to this celebration of their corner of the country. The brilliant André 3000 even delivers one of his too rare verses on Scientists
Several listenings will be necessary to grasp all the richness of Killer Mike’s texts. But its vulnerability and its authenticity, magnified by the choral songs and those of Eryn Allen Kane on three tracks, grab us from the first session of 54 minutes. The extraordinary cadence of Killer Mike and the rhythms composed by No I. D. and his acolytes, however, allow you to appreciate Michael without breaking your head, or breaking your heart.
