Killer Mike: The rap genius dishes on his new 'MICHAEL' project, Andre 3000 and more from Harlem

Rap veteran Killer Mike has ample things to talk about and what better place than in the comfort of Apple Music’s Ebro Darden hanging out in Harlem, New York?

He’s at Atlanta legend but hip-hop pioneer - yup, I said it - and getting to see him in his comfort zone for nearly 40 minutes talking about everything from new music and collaborations to his artistic roots, it’s pure must-see - and hear.

Killer Mike Tells Apple Music His New Album ‘MICHAEL’ Was 20 Years in the Making…

Man, I was raised by a God-fearing woman. I lost sight of who I was. Making this album, it brought me back. It brought me home. You got a chance over 20 years of my career to see me mature. I wanted to do this 20 years ago, I just didn't know how. And it felt right being at home in the middle of COVID, sitting there with my woman, my children, sitting there with the people who are still around, I love, I just got an opportunity to really say, "What do you want to say?" I wanted that little nine year old buck tooth boy to be free to say, "This is how the world has affected me. And this is what my parents and grandparents and my community has given to the world." And I hope I made Black people proud.

Killer Mike Tells Apple Music He Spent Half a Million Dollars Making ‘MICHAEL’...

This matters because I spent half a million dollars without asking my wife. Yeah, at about a quarter million dollars, she was just like, "What the f**k is you doing?" You know what I mean? I was like, "I'm making the album I've always wanted to make." And she's like, "We're a quarter million show." You know what I mean? That could have bought a whole nother quarter of a block.

Killer Mike Discusses the Origin of His Collaboration with André 3000 and Teases More New Music on the Way…

…with bro, I just kept it bro, him and B in particular. And there was a woman named Regina Davenport, who was the A&R at Aquemini Records. Those three mattered to me. And because they believed in me, I cared what they think about the music. So as I'm recording the music, I'm letting Torn hear it, I'm letting Ray Murray hear it, Rico hear it. And I came out to LA, and I was like, "Hey Stack ..." I want you to come through and just check it out. I had no expectations because every time I've ever asked, "He'll be like, Kill, it's hard, man. But, you know, Kill, I just don't feel it right now." You know what I mean? You hear that for about a decade. You like, "Man, I ain't even asking no more. I just want bro to here because I want bro opinion. I might get a gem out of it, the polish." And I think Stacks came through. I think everybody kind of cleared out to just let him have his space. And so, I'm hoping he like it. He listen through it, he like it. And then, I think the next day, he called, "Can I come back?" And he say, "Man, I'm going to just leave y'all something and see what y'all can do with it." So cousin already say, "Whatever he leave, we working with." cuz was like, "I don't care what we he leave." He left like eight, nine joints. And man, that was one of them. We was like ... The other one, he was singing on. We did both. He took the singing one back. He was like, "I want to do something else with it." We was like, "Bet." But he ended up giving me another record. So me and him got another record too that's like 11 minutes long, that, it'll come out the vault one day. But that one, that Scientists & Engineers, man. "I hope I'm 80 when I catch my second wind." That's a beautiful thought because, man, if you hang in there, your mind going to stay sharp, guard. He's always creating, you know what I mean? He's never not creating, it just may not be the thing we want him to be creative. He plays that flute good. The boy can surf. Ain't no water in Atlanta you could surf in. We learned it. We learned. He's lived. We spent so much time chasing what our goal or what we think it is that we forget to enjoy the journey… and he's inspired me to enjoy the journey. But man, he helped get corral Future, Helped corral Future, to get Future on the Future Dungeon Family member. It's a blessing. After I got it, I just kind of listened to it forever and ever and ever. And I wrote a few verses I didn't like and then I just got in the studio one night and it just blossomed. Just that first lick came in and I'm proud to say, man. Like somebody on Twitter said, "I did not get washed on my song." So Stag usually show up and show out, man. Oh no. I ain't taking no washing. I don't care if it's 4,000, five or six. Yeah, I don't give a damn who you are. I ain't show up to get showed out on.

Killer Mike on Run The Jewels’ Next Chapter…

…this is our 10th year as Run the Jewels. So thank you guys. A decade went by like that. We're going to do four cities. We're doing Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. We're going to do four shows, each album. Run the Jewels one, two, three and four for four nights. So we're going to play New York for four nights. I expect to see y'all out, man. Man, thank New York for giving me my rap partner from Brooklyn, so we could perform Brooklanta. shouts out to El man. “Don't let the Devil”, I put purposely toward the end of the record because I wanted people to get right like, "Hold on. Hold on. Is it?" And no, it's not a break up. No, it's not a separation. This Michael expands the Run the Jewels universe. And what I mean by that is Run the Jewels is an uncanny X-Men. You see El-P, Killer Mike, God Bless the Dead, Gangsta Boo's going to pop up. Many others from 2 Chainz to Big Boi, Zack de la Rocha pop up, Josh Homme, Mavis Staples, you never know. But the character of Killer Mike had an origin story. So I wanted people like Wolverine to Logan to see everything that goes into that. So to me, this record even expands further the Run the Jewels universe. So what I would like to see next is this record go through the roof. Run the Jewels have a successful tour in the fall and kill it. At some point, do enough mushrooms and weed to say, "Hey, it's time for five." Which we started playing around in the studio last year and we demo'd something that was stupid, dope, crazy. I'd like for Run the Jewels 5 to drop with the Run the Jewels Blues Brothers movie.

Killer Mike on Purpose…

I'm understanding I'm being used for a purpose to show that Black men are good. Working class men are good. Who we are is good enough. We can be better for ourself, we can be better for our family. We can be better so we choose, but we ain't nobody's second hand nothing. Measuring up for yourself matters more.

Killer Mike on “SOMETHING FOR JUNKIES”

SOMETHING FOR JUNKIES is what you see after you off the exit for about 10, 15 minutes. With the Today Was a Good Day-ism of it. We have to come back to sobriety of the crack era, the aftermath of these people that are beautiful people. To all the people who've been raised by addicts who have addicts in their lives, or people that may be addicts themselves. Man, most addicts are deeply sensitive people. My own mother suffered an addiction. But man, we have done such a horrible job as a community in terms of understanding addiction and being empathetic. So SOMETHING FOR JUNKIES was an opportunity for me to take a piece of a conversation that one of my mom's friends, I called a aunt, said to me when I was... "You know, make your first $10,000 in a weekend trapping, you think, "Oh man, I'm rich. Like this s**t finna happen. I'm going all the way." Whatever all the way is when you 17, 18 years old." And we just sat on the back of a car, had seven, eight cutlets, and we had a very sobering conversation. I got 10 bands. I'm like, oh man... And she say, "Let me out." I gave her a piece of whatever she on. She hid it in front of me. I'm just like, "Man, you tripping, man.”

Killer Mike on Spirituality…

I ran from the Lord a long time. Spiritually, I've been looking for God that loved black people. And I didn't think God didn't love black people. It's just that Christianity annexed us out where we were present, we were there. We inspired some of the stories that got copied and rewritten, but I didn't know how to... Unless it was music, I didn't feel God. You know what I'm saying? I only felt it with the feeling they tell you you get in church, the Holy Ghost...I only felt it with rap music in particular, but with music, I felt it. But I realized I had been on a journey, a search, and I was like a prodigal son. I was just out in the world. I was taking the good messages I had learned from Bethlehem Healing Temple and Bishop Jean Church, these little small Pentecostal churches. I was taking that out there, but I hadn't fully embraced it for myself. I hadn't given myself a certain grace. 

Killer Mike on the Influence of His Elders…

I'm proud to be a Black man. I'm proud to be a father. I'm proud to be a husband. I'm proud to be a good and clean, decent baby's father and father to child to the women who have given me children, thank God. And I think that that's more of our story than this and we have to ignore propaganda. There is going to be propaganda because they always need a villain or a heel. And just refuse to participate. All I've ever been around is good Black men. My dads, I have two dads, my grandfather, my uncles. Even the Black men that weren't doing good, even the ones that ran moonshine, sell a little drug, they still told us the right thing to do. They told us stay out of trouble, you know? So I want to give Black men their flowers.