A freedom just calls from
saying this is who I am.
Music, Computers and robbers and looters and
looters with shooters and shoots
with rugers and shooters with rugers.
CD's with my tutors and my tutos
taught me a terrible miracle Yon
like even still killing America
for making time for As soon as I
heard the album I was like, Mik,
we got to sit down for this.
Thank you it feels like. To be honest,
it doesn't feel like A roll out plan.
It just feels like your life st.
Like the roll out plan for this
album started the day you was b.
Yeah, I wish I had the sophistication
to actually plan a major.
I probably would have
popped off 15 years ago.
I had to live a whole life and n
just give people the truth, you
know? Yeah. And the life you lid
for the last 10-11 years, Your ,
your last solo album being what, 2012?
Yeah, 11 years ago for it to
go through that much gap.
What did you have to go throughn
life to make another solo album?
Well, I mean life's been pretty
amazing like you at the 9 year
old kid that's on the album cov.
A little buck deep kid.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He had an imagination and his
imagination said you're gonna be an MC,
you're gonna be a world dominating MC.
But he had no idea how to get t.
But he had decided in his mind.
That this was what it was going to be.
So my life, even to the point of getting
a record deal, was this adventu.
And then I got to be NMC and
then I want a Grammy within my
first couple years of being MC.
And I was on some of the biggest songs
in the world via Outcast and Ja,
you know, Blueprint 2, stuff like that.
And I got a chance to see
Over the Mountaintop,
but I hadn't gotten over the mountaintop.
I just had seen it.
So I knew it was there.
And then I fell back down the mountaintop,
partially by choice,
because I had an opportunity.
Thanks to Jermaine,
when he was over,
I think at Virgin,
he had just given purple ribbon
furnishing a deal and I just di.
I didn't take it and I didn't want it.
Not because I didn't respect Jermaine.
I respected and loved the hell out of The
Godfather here in Dallas at the scene,
but I just was kind of
disillusioned with majors.
I went on a journey back now in the mountain,
back in the valley.
I pledge allegiance to the Grind series
stuff like The Drunken Unicorn .
Little local shows with, you kn,
people like Maurice Garland support and
new face when he was just Larry back then.
And I pledge allegiance to the grind,
brings me to meeting Jason Jeted
by then I'm housed at Grand Hustle and
I'm with Tip and Jason and Hamm.
God bless the dead Clayton.
They're giving me a place to be.
I work on the final pledge series and
then the Rolling Stone that yea,
which was 12 years ago.
They named Ric Flair one of the
50 best songs of that year.
Atlanta,
GA.
And they gave me really
a zeal to keep pushing.
Jason Jeter pops up from Turner Broadcasting.
Cartoon Network right here,
Local says we're revamping Willm
Street Records and gives me an
opportunity to make rap music.
I meet LP, we make rap music.
A year later, after the solo red
rap music and we tour together.
Rap music is received exceptionally well.
I remember John Gotti from
the Smoking section saying.
You know, could possibly be a classic.
We'll see how it holds over the test of time.
And I remember at 10 Years in the Light,
it held up. It held.
It's a classic, bro.
And but there's
so many tracks in that album that I remember.
You know, when you was like,
you know, this is the elegance.
Yeah, yeah, you're the elegancee
historical references that you e
really shows that you've been a
student of the movement for so .
You know, you drop it like litte
little sprinkles, sprinkles.
But you also giving people a history lesson.
Yeah. My job. Well,
I said will I die slain like my king by.
Terrorists. Will my woman be Coretta?
Take my name in chair, Chair.
Will she Jackie L Tropic Kennedy, remarry it?
My sister says necessary on some Cleopatra.
My grandmother said Nope, never.
That's the sacrilege.
And that's just about saying you have
two widows and you can contrast and say,
well, one widow never married a.
That's the noble thing to do.
Like Coretta or?
Another widow had to keep a family and an
entity intact, like Cleopatra had to do.
So she had to marry.
And that was saying Jackie O was like her.
So that was in just plain fairness then.
Selfishly, I won't.
I would never want Shay to remarried.
But my sister was saying, well,
what if she has to, you know?
So it was just some of that eternal conflict.
But I try to drop.
Tad bits of history of things I've learned,
because I think if I preach it to you,
you're not going to take it.
Like if I try to give you a hit, every song.
Can't be Reagan melody.
Yeah, But if I give you some stf
to be curious about, you'll go.
Especially in the age of Google.
Like everybody today should know
who Herman Russell is for sure.
I said him enough times on my new album.
We used to What was this guy?
Yeah. Rapping about.
And then they go Google.
And then you'll see this poor
kid who grew up in Summerhill wo
went on a Tuskegee University.
He went on to build one of the
largest development empires.
And he's just a regular black k,
just like me or you.
And and that's what I want
to inspire my music a certain
curiosity or want to know for
sure for sure now before the album Michael
you had to see the mountaintop to look
overhead to go through your val.
Now that valley and that curve s
what Michael takes us on a joury
right. But a decade of Run the jewels
like after rap music is a decade of me
and LP firmly establishing ourselves as
one of the best rap groups in the world.
And Lord have mercy the I was
passionately driven the last
decade to make sure that becaus.
We make magic together. Oh dirty. And
the mark you have left with Run the Jewels
and you continue to also Mark as well.
I've been telling a lot of peope
before this album drop, I'm like
y'all listening to Mike the Movement,
but Y'all ain't listening to
Mike the musician. You know.
It's like when you said in that
track you was like a revolution.
And I love Dr. King, but
this might be necessary.
Cuz when you live on MLC and
it gets very scary, you might
have to pull your AKC One to the Yeah, right.
So even like, how you capture yr
artistic ability in the lyricism
has always been stamped right,
They just wasn't paying attention. Yeah,
it's just it wasn't.
I know everything ain't for everybody.
So you know, like with one of the Jews,
it's like. We are.
I remember my Rd. manager sayin,
our tour manager saying one time
he said you guys are really a rk
group masquerade in a rap at.
Now to some people they may take that
as you're you're going another charm,
but it's not early rap run DMC
crowds and Beastie Boys crowds k
similar to A/C DC or Def Leopard
crowds because everybody was
caught up in it at the same tim.
So even though run DM C's the biggest,
illest, wildest rap group ever,
they're received in the rock
community because a lot of the f
they're doing matches, you know.
So Run the Jewels is kind
of received the same way.
So I get why some people who
may look like us may get it.
They rap it,
but it may not be the first rap they go to.
It might be the people who used to classic,
classic 80s, yeah, 90s rap.
It might be people who are
who have some alternative.
Thinkings in terms of music,
maybe some people who just like
the Dead Kennedys and punk,
you know what I mean?
But I understood that there
was an audience that knows me,
that wasn't necessarily plugged
in to Run the Jewels.
And I understood that because
I knew sonically the family I'm
out of and Dungeon Family,
the the style of Southern music
out of Atlanta versus, say,
Memphis or Houston or Miami or know you.
I knew that that hadn't been
heard in a long time,
and I knew that spiritually.
I was coming back to some of the
teachings that my grandmother had taught me,
and musically right it was.
It brought me back to these smal
little Pentecostal churches.
The
first time I heard the entire
album in its full entirety,
one word came to mind.
And then that word kind of
represented all types of emotio.
The word that came to mind was abundance.
Yes, you're gonna get an
abundance of healing.
You're gonna get an abundance of joy.
You're gonna get an abundance
of black excellence.
You're gonna put the excellence
back into black excellence.
You're gonna get an abundance of grief.
And then you're going to get an abundance
of the courage to lean into the discomfort.
Yeah. Track number one,
you paid homage to the love of your life.
You said pretty as to all of that guy.
She got the face of the model.
She got the heart of the father.
She she from the gutter wife and mother,
Winnie Mandela.
Tell me about how she has kept u
grounded in this journey of makg
the album that on the first tra.
You was going to let the world
know about the love of Shay.
I don't think you know Michael.
If you don't know Shay.
You know that's just that's it.
That's it. That's my ace, man.
That's my twin flame.
That's it. That's it. I just.
I'm with her. I'm with her till
this whole till we out of here.
And then the next life I'm with.
She just. She just. I just.
I told I don't know.
I just. I don't.
I don't know what put her.
In my life, in terms of what
circumstance brought us togethe,
but I'm glad, you know,
they say still sharp and still t
of times me and say this is my better
half and that's very complicated to say.
But I think we make each other better
we we bring out an excellence ie
another that I I just appreciate her for.
And you know,
I don't have a mom,
I don't have a grandmother,
I don't have just that.
That those two figures are
gone and you know it's a good
thing that a man finds a wife.
Track #2, you said.
I shed tears every morning
in the bathroom mirror.
Face to face face.
Face had to face my fears.
It was me,
The reason that I failed.
That was hell locking,
self guilt like jail Lord.
I cried. Almost died empty insi.
The devil whispers in you.
Here you contemplate suicide. Yu
to come to the booth and to be that honest.
You know, where did that vulnerability
come from that you were like, Oh yeah,
go no, Michael And every thought that
just the truth, like just the t.
It's so many misconceptions out there
because people want you to be a character
like Naima who people see on television.
They they want her to be what wt
they were felt when they saw he.
They don't understand the little
girl who's who's getting told by
our teachers because of your na,
you're never be on TV.
You know, because you're because you're
African and not Africanamerican,
you'll never be understood.
Just all the all the stuff that people dump
on you that has nothing to do with you.
It's just their perception.
Good or bad, it's still not you.
So when people want me to only a
political advocate or I wanted e
a rapper, that's all I wanted t,
the other stuff.
And my grandmother indoctrinated
in me like I have to, yeah,
I have to take part in local politics
because this lady right here toe
simply that's what you're supposed to do.
They have to understand that ate
point a man goes and just is by himself.
Like for Muslim brothers in particular,
doing prayer five times that you just
get to be alone and you get to let off
some of the burden that a law s,
give me the burden you can get,
you can, you can be done with i.
And a lot of times, men.
You just have to go in the bathm
in the morning, just let it out.
Or you're in the shower, just let it out.
Because when you walk out their
door you're somebody's leader.
You're somebody's, you're somebody's mate,
you're somebody's father.
You're you're a cornerstone in
the community and that gets heay
and it's never acknowledged.
And it will push you to the pois
where if you fail a little you e
too down too hard on yourself ad
and the and the devil the serpet
will get in your ear and say ma,
you could all be over with.
You could just end it.
They could have a life insuranc,
you know what I mean?
But that's not how were
you able to shake off his
voice when he started with
man, You just have to pray and u
have to pray. And I Lord knows I never
thought I'd be the one saying t,
but like my grandmother said, you know,
you can't keep running from God.
And I ran so long and I tried so
hard just to be what I wanted t,
just to be a rapper and and God said,
now I have a plan.
I have a purpose for you.
You still get what you asked for, but.
In abundance, I'm gonna give you
these other responsibilities.
Yeah, and you're gonna have to do them.
It's some moments in life where I was
telling one of my friends the other day.
Like, you can spend your whole
life saying a lot of empty mants
until you put meaning in it.
So you can say God first.
Until you have nothing but God,
you'll never know what
it is to put them first.
You can say family first,
but until you have nothing but family,
you'll never know the power of family.
Absolutely.
But it's only through wisdom and
pain that we can pour back into
those mantras that felt so empt.
Yeah,
and even when we say pain,
there's gonna be a certain
amount of suffering or suffrage.
But you're meant to learn.
I didn't, I didn't,
I didn't complain about the val.
I didn't because yeah,
I was so determined to make
it back to the peak. Yeah.
I just thought the suffering
came with the journey.
Yeah. If life is like that Muhammad Ali
quo where he said it's not the mountain to
climb but it's the pebbles in your shoe.
What would you say were were yor
pebbles that you had to remove.,
you know the pebbles are self d.
OK? You know the pebbles are resisting
envy relationships that that you
are fostered that are not healt.
Right before we got on camera,
I was like, I can't pick a favo.
You're like, you're not supposeo
because each one is part of a sy
where the album is the favor, r?
The most memorable one that I wt
ready to listen. I'll be honest,
when I the first time I heard this song,
I had to skip over it because
I wasn't ready emotionally.
Some of the lyrics, you know,
you said to keep it honest.
I get to press and be feeling scared. You
see I want prepared and never
will be to think about your
death and knee. Sometimes it
kill me. And then you went on
to say, like, Can you believe
it, Mama, I cheated, Mama. I tud
these hating people to believe us, Mama,
like you were talking directly
to her, as if she is still here
and her energy is still here.
Yeah, I know.
I know this about black people.
No matter what religion we are, no matter
what spiritual place that we're headed,
I know we have connection with our ancestors.
I know that about us. Absolutel.
In our DNA, there's something that is in us.
The prayers that your grandmothr
has prayed cover you to this da.
The prayers my grandmother
prayed cover me this day.
And I just simply had to acknowe
it because I talk to her every ,
Every day I wake up, I never ta.
I pray. I remember my grandmothr
coming to me in a dream. She ju.
And whether that's angels disguise to them
or whether that's them, I know ain't.
I know energy does not die.
So I know that my mother
and the physical is gone.
But the energy that she loved me with,
that she brought me here with,
will never die.
So she's with me.
You know,
if I sit still and quiet long enough,
I hear old lessons and jewels
of wisdom that she's giving me.
I just have to quiet my mind
and this emotional, like,
journey of making the album.
What did you tell her after
you wrapped up the album?
I did it, girl. I just drove around 285.
I got a thing where I I listen to it Now
when I want to listen, I just gn
285 and just drive around it and I just,
I just did it and I just cried.
And I just laughed and I giggled and I
went out and parked in front of the whole
house that and I still own. And I just,
I just talked to her just like I did.
I got finally did it.
You when you're hunting somethig
and I've been hunting,
capturing this moment in this emotion,
it just escaped me or invaded me or I
almost got it or I was almost t.
It wasn't quite the right time.
After 20 years, it was it was just time.
My God, it's like, wow.
And that's a beautiful,
like healing journey.
One thing that comes to mind whn
I heard about this album is the.
Realization and the art in the
time that we're given on Earth.
And what comes to mind really,
is what Benjamin E May said.
Like it's only a minute,
but eternity lives in it? Absolutely.
How have you been able to, like,
maximize the time you're given?
As you let the world know the
history of all your ancestors
and you're growing legacy as
well. Well I took,
I took the 2 1/2 years it took the making
to make it and now shining woke.
I remember we woke up on the dead drop
and she said happy resurrection.
You're a new man, you born again
today and she just did this.
This is the first of three.
So I still have two more to
give you just than this.
I still got running Juice 5 to give you.
Yeah. I still got.
I promised you another rap
music and a final play it.
So this reset the clock for me.
What encouragement did Andre 3000 give
you on your creative journey ths
was mad we So Stacks comes in.
I'm out there and I'm like, yo,
I want you to just hear it.
No expectations you know just
just because ear alone is a gif.
Absolutely human being.
They gave me an opportunity
to change my life.
But I let Stacks hear it and.
He's like he was hard.
Like he said,
you mind if I come back and
play some stuff tomorrow and
I'm like what do I my do I my
like I wasn't going to ask,
but since you absolutely
came back and he left like
cuz you never know how long his
sabbatical is going to last, ri?
He left like 8 or 9 things. Wow.
Because like you literally pull
two that we knew we could do.
Sciences engineers being one.
Another one he took back but
he swapped out So I still got
something else for him with wai.
But that to me that was that was
that was the most encouragementI
could have asked for to say all
right I want to be on it on they
of this record and I'm just like
and we turned the record into se
beautiful with scientists I do h
I had scientists to engineer friends.
Let's go. Get out of here.
Petrol with cheaper than it's ever been.
It's
one of those things that will
mark a moment in your life,
absolutely.
It's a generational statement.
This is a generational statemen.
There's a high schooler that's
going to hear this record.
This is going to be the soundtr.
To this year. For them,
there's a college kid that's going to
hear that's going to be the soundtrack.
There are men in there 354555
that once loved hip hop,
and at some point hip hop became
something just to remind them of how much
they had not achieved or had fa.
This record redeems that, just
the beauty of always infusing all your
identities into every single track. Because
people need to see that like,
I'm a whole human being.
But you know what's wild is lik.
I moved to the States in 96.
I was, you know, born in the
middle of a civil war in Mogadi.
My family then moved to Kenya,
and we lived at a refugee camp.
So then we come over here and
it's like we go from the blacket
continent to the blackest city.
It felt like home, exactly.
But the beautiful part is,
the reason why these details matter to
me is the way I had to absorb Atlanta
history was through the street signs.
So it's like every time we were driving
around or on the Marta bus I would be like,
I wonder who Benjamin E Mays is.
Who is Joseph Lowry?
Who is who is Benjamin Mays?
Who you know, like I saw.
So that's how my curiosity
for black history started like
it was in the streets
Langford Parkway we celebrated
Tyler Perry getting his own exi.
Then I told him I said that
Google who author Langford.
And they googled and said. I said yeah,
I say that's the cool thing about Atlanta.
It's been honoring black folks.
It's our job to continue that.
It's like it's just human
beings and our emotion.
That's all I'm really saying, O,
Michael, that I'm a human being
and the people that I'm from,
which is human beings just like anybody else,
you know?
I'm just looking forward to what's next,
you know what?
What what will? What will?
A lot put on my heart next
to say what's next?
Because it's just a freedom.
A freedom just comes from
saying this is who I am.
This this is who I am and I'll
never apologize for it cuz
Lord knows when I'm a crow.
But this is who I am.
Yeah. And I appreciate you
supporting me over the years.
I love you to put culture on thp
in Atlanta and to stay in Atlan.
You've been rapping.
You've been rapping to the
rappers way before, Ari.
And I love Ari the deal,
but you've been rapping and holg
and holding great rhythm too.
I remember when I first saw you.
I just like man, Yeah,
who is this amazing little Afri,
this Muslim. Like who is she th?
She knows her.
And I was just like,
And then when they said
she's from the East side,
I was like,
ah, Decatur, get the claim. But
I'm very proud of you.
I'm very proud of the
woman you've grown into.
I'm very proud of the journalist you are.
And I'm very proud of the integy
in which you cover music.
In particular black. I appreciae
it. Music. Computers and robbers and luthers
and luthers and shooters and shooters
with Rugers and shooters with rugers.
CD's with my tutors and my tutos
taught me a terrible mirror.
But you get Latinas still killing America
be celebrated like Captain America. There.