{"id":808218,"date":"2020-06-09T10:52:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T16:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=1011995"},"modified":"2020-06-09T10:52:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T16:52:35","slug":"rs-interview-special-edition-with-killer-mike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/rs-interview-special-edition-with-killer-mike\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018RS Interview: Special Edition\u2019 With Killer Mike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michael Santiago Render, known to the world as the Atlanta<\/a> rapper Killer Mike<\/a>, is half of the so-chaotic-it-works rap duo Run the Jewels<\/a>, whose excellent fourth effort, RTJ4<\/em><\/a>, debuted last week. For a group that is arguably ahead of its time, it only seems appropriate that lines like these \u2014 from the track \u201cWalking in the Snow\u201d \u2014 were recorded before George Floyd\u2019s death or America\u2019s current moment of revolution:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd every day on evening news they feed you fear for free<\/em>
And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me<\/em>
And \u2019til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, \u2018I can\u2019t breathe\u2019<\/em>
And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV<\/em>
The most you give\u2019s a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy<\/em>
But truly the travesty, you\u2019ve been robbed of your empathy<\/em>
Replaced it with apathy, I wish I could magically<\/em>
Fast forward the future so then you can face it<\/em>
And see how fucked up it\u2019ll be<\/em>
I promise I\u2019m honest, they coming for you<\/em>
The day after they comin\u2019 for me\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The lyrics appear prescient, given what is now happening in the world. But they also feel like an appropriate condemnation of those responsible for not doing more to stop systemic racism. They reflect not only the disproportionate dangers of police violence against black people \u2014 they also warn white people, many of whom are now taking to the streets to say that black lives matter, about how their own apathy to black plight will eventually be chickens coming home to roost.<\/p>\n

The inherent trepidation we are taught to feel as black men in the presence of police \u2014 even when, in Mike\u2019s case, your father is a cop \u2014 is but one of the many topics that he and I covered in the course of our conversation. Also on that list: the themes and spirituality that run through the work of Run the Jewels, Mike\u2019s collaboration with Pharrell on the new album, and the impassioned speech<\/a> that Mike gave to his native Atlanta alongside T.I. and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms last month while demonstrators caused property damage and fires during protests. Plus, he discusses the things that give him hope in what may seem like a hopeless time. But the reality of today\u2019s America was never far from our minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being black,\u201d Mike observed, as I mmm-hmm\u2019d in agreement. \u201cWith that said, it can be dangerous as fuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the latest installment of Rolling Stone\u2019<\/em>s \u201cRS Interview: Special Edition<\/a>\u201d video series, which features in-depth conversations with notable figures in music, entertainment, and politics. Episodes premiere every Thursday afternoon on Rolling Stone\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Santiago Render, known to the world as the Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, is half of the so-chaotic-it-works rap duo Run the Jewels, whose excellent fourth effort, RTJ4, debuted last week. For a group that is arguably ahead of its time, it only seems appropriate that lines like these \u2014 from the track \u201cWalking in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-808218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 20:37:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}