Killer Mike talks Lil Wayne,T.I./Shawty Lo Beef,"fake ass bloods" and Soulja Boy

[Elano]

I just wanna start off by congratulating you for making a dope-ass album - a skill most artists don't seem to possess anymore.

Killer Mike : Thank you, man. I been waiting my whole life to hear that, man! And even though cats like[d] me rhyme-wise before, they always liked songs, or they liked the fact that I could rap good. [But] this is my first what I feel like is a cohesive and classic album. So thank you, man.

Well enough of the pleasantries, let's get to the funkiness. I got a good chunk of questions based off your own words I'm gonna ask you to elaborate on. So let's just start with your most recent barb on "Killionaire": "I see these fake-ass Bloods, I keep a tight lip." Was that a shot at Lil Wayne or no?

KM: That's a shot at every rapper who is going against the words of T. Rodgers. See, I don't want you to reduce me or my words to anything petty. And the reason I say that is I accept and acknowledge the accountability that I have as a rapper in influencing the greater public. Now, that being said, when any grown-ass fucking man 25 to 35 will put on a gang bandanna and will represent that to the public as though this is something that's gon' progress your life when original gang member who first helped to build that are saying, "No, no, no" - amongst those members being Jeff Fort from the original Black P.Stone Nation, Larry Hoover, who changed the direction of The Gangster Disciples into growth and development, and T. Rodgers of the original Bloods of Los Angeles - when they are saying, "No, turn away from this culture," and you as any rapper, I don't give a fuck what your name is, if you promote that you a piece of fucking scum. ‘Cause you promoting death to children who look like you.

And if the originators are saying that... See what I mean by that, if you not from Chicago, and if you not from L.A., please recognize what you doing. When you watch Game,[he] not only told dudes, "Okay, yeah this is what it was [to gang bang]." But Game don't hide the fact he [also] played basketball with Baron Davis. Game don't hide the fact he likes being an intelligent brother. When you look at a Snoop, [he] doesn't mind coming outta Crip mode and going into intelligent father mode. But if you're promoting something that's unbalanced, then that [line is directed] to you, whoever you may be. Because we are risking the lives of millions of black children.

I think you just did it, but you said on that track that you're "about ready to go Pimp C part 3." You know there's no better place to get something off your chest than HipHopDX. [Laughs]


KM: Man, to me, I'm so blessed to be a rapper [that] anytime I grab a microphone I just say I'ma say something true. Even if everything ain't true, I'ma say something true. I'ma say a truth that somebody can live with or eat off of, or do something more than just remain a flunkie.

Was that Pimp C part 3 reference though to anything in particular, are we gonna hear about down the line...?

KM: Nah, it was about Pimp C... See, I'm not looking for controversy. I'm looking for a measure of manhood, brother. Like, you know Pimp didn't get out of jail and get reformed and find Jesus. Pimp was saying before he ever went to jail: "The motherfucking feds in town." Go back and listen to that off Super Tight. Go listen back to that. Go listen to "The Feds In Town" [click to read]. Go listen to how you're supposed to appropriate yourself when the police crackdown comes. Don't listen to a muthafucka telling you to ball out during a recession. It's fucked up, man. And what's gonna happen is you gon' ball out, you broke, and a dope dealer gon' turn into a robber. So you gon' go from a muthafucka who coulda caught a case for selling dope and got probation, to a muthafucka that kick in somebody mama door and kill her looking for dope and money. That's the part of the story niggas don't talk about. But if you had actually lived that life, then you would at least have the humanity enough to let somebody know that this is what really fuckin' happens in that life. That's what Ice-T did for me. That's what Ice Cube [click to read] did for me. That's what KRS-One did for me. Listen to "6 N The Morning". Listen to Death Certificate in its entirety.

"Love's Gonna Get'Cha."

KM: And I was fin to hit you with it. Not only listen to "Love's Gonna Get'Cha," listen to Edutainment [as a whole]. But definitely listen to "Love's Gonna Get'Cha." I don't have no problem with my brother. I love the fact we can rap and make money, and we can use all that fucked up experience the government heaped on us through the Reagan years - and I wanna send shouts out to [Juelz] Santana - we can use all that fucking bullshit that we went through - taking music out of schools, taking recess, taking free lunch - we can use all that...now we can use that as an opportunity for us to make music, entertain the world and edutain at the same time! Then we can tell kids get off that same bullshit we was doing in the ‘80's and get on this new shit and get to your money. Less kids need to be gangstas and more kids need to be Soulja Boy.And I don't mean in making that [kind of] music, I mean in being innovative and knowing at 16 years-old, "I can conquer the fucking world." I ain't gotta join this [gang] shit ‘cause a nigga want me to join. I ain't got to be a part of a nigga flunkie squad. I can be a leader.
I'm interested in seeing the people who listen to me be leaders. Hence, I don't sit around and rap about how much more shit I got than you. Hence, I don't try to demean you for the decisions you made with your life that have caused you to come to the point you work a nine-to-five job. I ask most people: "How the fuck can you listen to these niggas and when you listening to these niggas for 60 minutes these niggas tell you how much better they are than you, how many cars they got, how many bitches they fucked, how much dro they smoke?" If a nigga sat in your car and did that for real you would put that nigga black ass out your car. So my thing is how the fuck you gon' pay a nigga to talk down to you? This is music that I make to support your success. I'm
not here to demean you. I'm not here to tell you you ain't shit.

[Do] I say "nigga, bitch, hoe, cunt, muthafucka" and whole bunch of other words George Carlin said? Yes I do. Because I'm speaking the language of the day. So don't give me your petty-ass [argument], "But you say these words." ‘Cause that goes into a deeper conversation. What I'm saying is we have the power to reorganize and uplift. I'm not telling any real Blood or real Crip there's anything wrong with real people organizing. The Crips and Bloods started out as self-organized groups of children. So my thing is what's the evolution of that organization? What's the evolution [of] the Bloods from Athens Park that Bone wants to see? I'm interested in what the fuck he got to say. I'm interested in what T. Rodgers had to say. I'm interested in what Jeff Fort had to say. I'm interested in what 15, 16 and 17-year-old children who are Bloods and who want to organize in "The Jungle," who want to organize in places like that, I'm interested in what they have to say. I'm not interested in the theatrics of fucking rappers acting like gangsters. I'm not interested in that. I saw Colors already.

And just so you know, the line [about "fake-ass Bloods" from "Killionaire"] in itself was against no rapper and all rappers. Because most of the guys that are rapping to you today, to the audience out there reading this, most of them were children and they saw Colors in the late ‘80s. And when they say Colors them, me, and every other little nigga that saw Colors wanted to be in the Crips because that's what Rocket was. And because we saw that [repeats line from movie] "Rocket don't joke and Rocket don't smoke; Rocket peel the cap of a nigga." Like, that's what we all wanted to do. Now, 20 years later Don Cheadle is a successful fucking actor. And in our dope minds we know that Don Cheadle wasn't Rocket. And we saw the ‘90s happen, and death and destruction happen. So how can we as 20-something and 30-something-year-old men now - the same little boys who wanted to be a Crip ‘cause we saw Rocket - how the fuck they putting on different colored bandanas today and influence kids to do the same bullshit we was on? That's my question to the niggas who asking.

Alright, well let's move over from that particular verse to your words on Grind II specifically, the most stand out to me of which is your shot on what I think is the hardest record on the album in my opinion, "Bang"...

KM: Oh, thank you, man. A lot of people tried to hate. I love that record. That's our anthem.

Yeah, well let's get to the shot...

KM: "Sidekick niggas don't wanna see me conquer/Fired my boss, I don't need no sponsor."

You just told me in January that you and Big Boi are back on good terms

KM: We are on good terms. That record was written in November. [Laughs]

Oh okay, but I think you spit the "fired my boss" line in that ["Killionaire"] freestyle though too.

KM: I fired my... Let me tell you something, most people who listen to a rap, what are they gonna do if they like that rap? They gon' repeat the rap, right? So my thing is I don't care if you think I'm talking about Big Boi, ‘cause I'm not. I want whoever rappin' that verse to wanna one day fire they boss. I met a kid at a shoe store - I shop at the exclusive shoe stores. You know, the bullshit sneaker addiction, I got one - the kid said, "Mike, I was working at [a chain sneaker store] for $10-an-[hour] last year. I heard your song ‘Promise I Will Not Lose.' I fired my boss, came and worked for this shoe store, and now me and my partna doing party promotions, and we doing our own New Era design and selling ‘em." Like, that's inspiration, man! So please don't marganilize me saying [the] I "fired my boss" [line] down to me and Big Boi. I had 20 bosses before Big Boi. From the dope trap to the Auto Zone, I fired ‘em all.

Big Mike used to work at the Auto Zone, okay.

KM: At the Auto Zone and the Advanced Auto Parts.

[Laughs] Okay, but in your last interview you said you had been calling Big to get on a song called "Pimpin' Mayne" with Sleepy Brown and Pimp C.

KM: Yeah, he didn't get on the song [so] I didn't put it on the record. Hopefully one day he'll get on the song and it'll come out. If he never gets on it, it's never coming out. ‘Cause I believe The Dungeon Family fans deserve that.

Yeah, let's get to that, ‘cause you also said Andre 3000...that you would basically go [looking for] him until he got on the album. Did that pan out?

KM: Yeah, it panned out. He jumped this verse off. And it's...I think we putting it on Pledge III, which comes out in January.

Oh okay, word. You know the title of what that joint is gonna be yet?

KM: Yeah, it's called "Guns & Glory."

Wow. Is it Andre 3000 at his A+ peak?

KM: It better be ‘cause I'm at my A+ peak. And this is what the world been waiting to hear.

Yeah, go into that a little bit. You said previously that Dungeon Fam faithful deserve to see you and ‘Kast working together again, why do you think that is?

KM: Well, The Dungeon Family in my mind...and what the fans say to me is [that] they never got that song from me and Dre they wanted. So we gotta give ‘em that. And they wanna hear me and Big do a Southernplayalistic [type] song. Hence, I gave him "Pimpin' Mayne." And the one with Dre is just lyrically gon' be some animal shit. Like, I'm doing my [lyrical] exercises, my crunches and shit, making sure I'm up [to par]. ‘Cause I see what he doing to niggas on them verses. He's killing niggas, and laughing about it. He think I don't know that though.

[Laughs] Alright, let's get back to Grind II. I know you don't wanna keep talking about this kinda stuff, but you know I gotta ask about "2 Sides." You're on a track with the infamous Shawty Lo line talking about those that lie about their location. So are you in any way joining Shawty Lo in his condemnation of T.I.?

KM: Let me tell you something, brother, Michael Render, Carlos Walker, and Clifford Harris are all from the Westside of Atlanta. That's what that is. So I'm not taking no sides [in their battle]. I'm from Martin Luther King [Street]. If two Bankhead niggas wanna argue, two Bankhead niggas can argue the rest of they life ‘cause I'm arguing with some Martin Luther King niggas over here. That's what we do on the Westside. The Westside [of Atlanta] is [like] Watts if you from L.A. The Westside is Southside Chicago if you from Chicago. The Westside is Brooklyn if you from New York. It's a bunch of muthafuckin' grimey, gritty, hungry [people]. [So] what's going on with Shawty Lo and Tip, it's as normal as me arguing with my cousin last week. So no, this [song] is in no way a campaign against the king. I love the king. This ain't a campaign against the "King of the South" or the "King of Bankhead," or whichever kings either of them are. I love both them brothers.

This is a campaign against people coming in and reshaping my city. This is a campaign against muthafuckas coming in talking about, "I'm from Atlanta," but they talking about they a fuckin' Atlanta Blood or an Atlanta Crip. Or, "I'm from Atlanta" and niggas on that gotdamn fagged-out Midtown shit. That's not Atlanta, homie. My town is not black Hollywood. My town is a rich, black, cultural diverse center of many black people with different kind of money, different kind of social experiences, different kind of everything. But what we are not is New York part 2. We are not L.A. part 2. We are not San Francisco part 2. We are not any of those other cities part 2. So I'm not gonna accept those labels.
So when I go to a club in Atlanta and a muthafucka tells me that I gotta be dressed like your favorite rapper to get in that club, I'ma tell that muthafucka the club'll be burnt down if he don't get his mind correct. Because this is my city for real. And that's all I'm saying [in "2 Sides"], brother. So it ain't against no other rapper. I am bigger than every rapper you name. And I'm not talking about, "Oh, I've made the most money." You know how many retarded muthafuckas done hit the lottery? That means nothing to me. What I mean is I have seen the same shit that your Jay-Z's have seen, that your 50's have seen, not because I had the money [but] because I paid attention. When I went to Paris with Outkast, I went to the Louvre muthafucka. You know what I mean? I used rap to get me to Africa. [But] I'm not where these [local] niggas at [mentally]. I'm not worried about block supremacy. Get the fuck outta here. I'm worried about people from the hood realizing that the world is bigger than that, and we can accomplish anything. I wanna see more Master P's, man. I wanna see more Jay-Z's, more 50 Cent's. I wanna inspire that outta people. I don't wanna constantly be in the muthafuckin' position of trying to down a muthafucka to make me look better.
Like, let me say this to you, why is every rapper who's telling you he's the best, the boss, or the president of something work for somebody? Every muthafucka talking that shit to you work for somebody else. I own my own masters. This is only the second interview I said that in. But if we wanted to start a brand game, we could do the slave/master game. See, I don't give a fuck how much jewlrey you got, nigga. Like Tony Draper said to me, "Which one of these niggas gon' own they shit 10 years from now?" And like Pimp C said to me, "Which one of these niggas shit gon' even be getting played 10 years from now?" That's what I'm talking about! What's your catalog worth, nigga? And do you own it?

[Fuck Your Existence]

"So when I go to a club in Atlanta and a muthafucka tells me that I gotta be dressed like your favorite rapper to get in that club, I'ma tell that muthafucka the club'll be burnt down if he don't get his mind correct."

LOL

[Black Excellence]

damn finally someone who speaks the truth. young'ns read and learn!!!!!!!!!!

[Elano]

[So] what's going on with Shawty Lo and Tip, it's as normal as me arguing with my cousin last week.

lol

[chicharo]

how did lil wayne become a blood. who jumped his ass in, Mack 10? Hes been in the spot light for a while and i didnt see any red rags on him or birdman back in the day. it is a big problem when people use gang affiliation to better their "character" if you werent affiliated with gangs before u got a record deal, i dont see the point of acting like u are when everybody knows ure not going to be putting in work for no hood.

[Mackin]

^^well honesty you guys have to look outside the box!

Now i don't know exactly what's going on with Lil wayne adn this whole 'Blood reppin' But my take on it, is strictly business! perhaps Lil wayne met up with some Bloods, hung out them! Liked their code/idea. They probably offered him some protection, as long as he flies the flag, they protect him or give him a pass. This may be wrong but it's more than likely closer to the truth, realistically speaking!

Promotion, just like Pepsi/Coca Cola, each of these two brands have their various starts that advertise their product, i don't think the gang culture is any different wel from my understanding!

Just my Two cents!