Latest Killer Mike Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I rap when I'm rich. I rap when I'm broke. I rap when I'm bullshit in the street. I rap about only having one woman now. If you can look at a continuum of my career, it's been an evolution of a real dude. So when I say I take my wife to the strip club, we're there, at the five-dollar joint. More than anything, I want people to take away that I'm not mainstream act.

  Killer Mike

  Real, Rap, People

  Source: pitchfork.com

• My family have always supported my rap - and they know I love them when I rap about them - but I'm just Michael Jackson to them. They care more about me. I express my love for them in a much more personal way on this record. It's about our conversations; my fear, and their advice. I know my sisters are gonna hear "Willie Burke Sherwood", which is named for my grandfather, and cry. I used to do music for me, because my ego needed it, but now I'm doing music for my family and friends who helped me become a rapper.

  Killer Mike

  Rap, Advice, Ego

  Source: pitchfork.com

• I don't think I'm more politically-based as much as socially-based. My grandmother died on February 29th, and she kept all of my magazine and newspaper scraps, every interview. I've been in the newspapers since I was about 15 - not for rapping, but for real substantive stuff I was doing in the community, organizing around gang violence in the schools. So I had already made my grandma proud before I was on TV. I've always been who I am.

  Killer Mike

  Real, Rap, Grandma

  Source: pitchfork.com

• My focus is always on the conditions that create social problems, not just a particular person.

  Killer Mike

  Focus, Problem

  Source: pitchfork.com

• If I go all the way politicized, I become a zealot who's not allowed to have fun with the people and the community that raised me. But if I go the other way, I become an ignoramus who isn't properly qualified to speak on my community's behalf.

  Killer Mike

  Fun, People, Community

  Source: pitchfork.com

• I can't expect rappers to be politicized when Americans are not socially motivated enough to care about their own lives and public policy as much as they were even 20 years ago. But I'm compelled to make the music I make regardless.

  Killer Mike

  Rapper, Care, Enough

  Source: pitchfork.com

• You'll always see me at a political rally and the black strip club; I'm gonna represent smoking weed and supporting Trayvon Martin on my record, because I'm a whole man.

  Killer Mike

  Weed, Men, Political

  Source: pitchfork.com

• Ninety-eight percent of blacks voted for President Obama. That means these people are tied to that political party in a way that's different from other groups of people. Certain rappers always want to represent the Democratic side because they know that's safe and that's what represents their community. I tend to just do what I feel is right by all people.

  Killer Mike

  Party, Mean, Rapper

  Source: pitchfork.com

• I don't think I'm more politically-based as much as socially-based.

  Killer Mike

  Thinking

  Source: pitchfork.com

• 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.

  Killer Mike

  Rap, Long, People

  Source: pitchfork.com

• I don't accept the term 'political rapper' because I don't give a damn about either political party. I give a damn about the people.

  Killer Mike

  Party, Giving, People

  Source: pitchfork.com

• With each new album: I need to kill the last version of me.

  Killer Mike

  Source: pitchfork.com

• Being an adult, you've already suffered enough from your own mistakes, and the world, to come to this as a humble human being. So it's not like, "I'm going to do the right thing because it advances me," as much as it's like, "I'm going to do the right thing because this puts me closest to the dream I had as a 10-year-old kid."

  Killer Mike

  Dream, Mistake, Humble

  Source: pitchfork.com

• I'll always push for what I believe in. That's what you're supposed to do. If you're an American, you're supposed to be part of the political process, especially if you've been denied it.

  Killer Mike

  Believe, Political, I Believe

  Source: pitchfork.com

• As an artist, that's our job - to be with you in times of celebration and when the world is kicking your ass.

  Killer Mike

  Artist, World, Celebration

  Source: pitchfork.com

• What I am is an encourager. I encourage all who deserve freedom to fight for that. And if you can't win by yourself, then find other people to be in solidarity with.

  Killer Mike

  Fighting, Winning, People

  Source: www.complex.com

• The older I get, the more of an anarchist I become, and I don't mean in a punk rock way.

  Killer Mike

  Mean, Rocks, Way

  Source: www.complex.com

• People tend to think of gentrification in terms of race because it's presented that way, and I think it's presented that way because in poor cities that's what's really going on. Beyond that, I think it's presented that way as a way for the people who are really pushing it to make it just a black problem, so people don't care.

  Killer Mike

  Thinking, Race, Cities

  Source: www.complex.com

• I'm just seeing as I grow older, and hopefully wiser, that a lot of things I see from a race perspective are class problems too, so I should be advocating for all.

  Killer Mike

  Race, Class, Perspective

  Source: www.complex.com

• 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've walked both sides of the fence, and there are times I can't sleep and I wake the engineer up and get it out of me. But it usually doesn't pour all the way out. I have to come back and have the conversation that you usually try not to have with yourself. That's how it gets resolved.

  Killer Mike

  Sleep, Night, Trying

  Source: www.complex.com

• I love art. It really changes my mood and wakes me up.

  Killer Mike

  Art, Mood

  Source: www.complex.com

• As entertainers, you're afraid [about] loss of income - but if other people start going to jail for free speech, then we've lost this great thing that America is, and I'd like to keep that.

  Killer Mike

  Loss, America, Jail

  Source: www.billboard.com

• I would just encourage everybody to just talk your opinion more, allow other people and fight for other people to [express theirs].

  Killer Mike

  Fighting, People, Opinion

  Source: www.billboard.com

• The freedom of speech and the freedom of press, it's just precious man, it really is.

  Killer Mike

  Men, Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of The Press

  Source: www.billboard.com

• We travel the world, and our right to free speech is precious.

  Killer Mike

  World, Speech, Free Speech

  Source: www.billboard.com