I prefer a real villain to a false hero.
Killer Mike
I never stop reading. I read everything, and I read every day. If you never read anything, be curious. Curiosity is the true foundation of education, reading things that we've factually already agreed on, and I love reading books. With that said, it's more important that you ask the question 'why.'
We should be led by principles and morals and not by men.
Being a cop is often seeing the worst of the human condition and behavior. With all of that said, there is no reason that Mike Brown and also Eric Garner are dead today - except bad policing, excessive force, and the hunt-and-capture-prey mentality many thrill-seeking cops have adapted.
I don't accept 'political rapper' because I don't give a damn about either political party. I give a damn about the people. My rap comes from a sociological standpoint rather than picking a particular side or dogma or ideology. I just want people to be free to do what they want, as long as they don't harm others.
A lot of times, our greatest minds are locked into a 9-5 job.
The older I get, the more of an anarchist I become, and I don't mean in a punk rock way.
All of us, as citizens, need to kind of get over our classisms and vote for the betterment of us all.
I've made classic records, and going into making 'R.A.P. Music,' I was determined to top the entire legacy of the 'Pledge' series, and the fact that I won a Grammy, and the fact that I was associated with OutKast, and the fact that I'm a Dungeon Family member.
I'm not going to stop being who I am.
I am Michael Render - that's what my mom named me. 'Killer Mike' is what my dumb friends called me in a rap battle once, and it stuck.
I'm an alpha male.
I tell people I live in Atlanta. Georgia's outside of Atlanta, absolutely. But my family's from the very rural south. My family's from Tuskegee, Alabama. And they're from Eatonton, Georgia. Places like Greenwood, Georgia, my family is from... so I've seen it both ways.
Freedom is not something you're even trying to fight for; you are free. Go. Make sure you live free every day.
Bernie Sanders is the only politician who, consistently for 50 years, has taken that social justice platform into politics.
I've been a sinner and a saint. If you've been a saint all your life, it's pretty easy to sleep at night. If you've been a sinner, you're just as comfortable in it.
I maintain hope that this country can be what it's supposed to be.
The fact that I'm in a group that inspires others artists is just heaven to me.
This is a beautiful life we lead in spite of whatever things come against us or whatever team loses or wins.
We have essentially gone from being communities that were policed by people from the communities to being communities that are policed by strangers, and that's no longer a community: that's an area that's under siege.
I'm a student of Ice Cube and Scarface, which means the stuff I rap about is not radio-friendly, and it's very opinionated. and it's very much from the perspective of a black man in America, and our opinion ain't always popular when we have a political opinion.
My hope is that very young people in America who have experience with the streets, hip-hop, college, higher learning will fuse all that together. I just want to be the music that can relate to both sides, that stitch together their lives or represents their experiences.
The way you start to break down systemic racism is to start building individual relationships with people who are not like you.
Those 'Pledge' records did good for me, and they're the foundation that this Killer Mike is built on, but I was judging myself on physical sales and didn't understand that music sales were declining overall.
Being a cop must be hard. My dad was one and never wanted any of his children to follow in his footsteps.
I cannot lie: as good as it feels to get my deserved props, the best part of reading social media after I meet folks is reading, 'Mike was a nice guy.'
You a role model by way of someone will model after your role. They'll model themselves after what they perceive is success. That doesn't mean they take your morality and virtue seriously. They want what you want, and they're willing to do what you do to get it.
I just like cars, period. I can find something to like about pretty much any car. I've had as much fun whipping around Italy in a little Mini Cooper as I've had whipping through Miami in a Bentley GT.
Government should fear the people, not the other way around.
A lot of time, when you're poor and you ain't got but 15, 20 bucks in your pocket - if you can't change your shoes, you can change your look with a haircut.
I write in the booth and memorize in rehearsals.
The best advice that I've gotten from Nas is honestly to just be me and to keep staying true to myself. It took me a long time to figure out how to pop, but then, when you get famous, people are kind of like, 'Oh, well, we don't want as much of you.'
I will never take a day off policing the people we pay and keep a public trust with. I will use my camera, my pen, my pad, and my network to do my part, to make sure that Americans will no longer fear their government. Or its employees. They work for us - not the other way around.
I grew up working class in Atlanta.
I was raised a black child in the South, where you're indoctrinated into a religion that an oppressor gave you.
I think all politics is local.
We have a responsibility to do better as black people in this country. I don't care how white people look at you - I care that we have a one-trillion-dollar spending base, and if you want to see change, you have to start to focus on, economically, how can we change our communities.
My mom had did a wonderful job of giving me two great dads: I had a biological and non-biological dad.
If we could figure out ways for kids to exit college without having the burden of debt, what we have really figured out is how to create a more fertile breeding ground for people who can think innovatively and progress us as a species.
If your great-great-grandfather participated on the Confederate side, and you hold some sentimental value to that, and you want to fly the flag and hang their picture up in your home, that's fine. But it should not be on anything that taxpayers pay for, because taxpayers are a part of the Union, not the Confederacy.
Ultimately, Dead Prez should have went multi-platinum. But when people didn't rally around them, I knew the black hip-hop audience had become far less politicized.
I have hurt my community. I have to look myself in the mirror and know that, and I have to own that in order to grow past that.
A lot of times, elections are lost, and the hope of the public is lost because they don't turn out.
I don't want to be married to any ideology, because life is a lot more fluid than that, and I think that we're trained and conditioned in this country to think in teams.
Black people shouldn't have permanent friends or enemies: they should have permanent interest.
Jake 'The Snake' Roberts of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was the darkest! I mean, he could've been a movie villain, he was so intense! He also had the hardest finishing move of all time, the DDT.
I believe in smart people.
In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that Senator Bernie Sanders is the right man to lead this country.
I've worked with incredible producers in the past, but when me and El-P got in a room, there was no way I was going to let off his head because not only was he one of the greatest producers I heard, he was one of the illest rappers I had ever heard.
For me, muscle cars are a tribute to American ingenuity.
