Killer Mike turns inwards on ‘Michael’

Eleven years ago, Killer Mike disavowed God in favour of the Church of Rap. “F*** all the tellers that ran to the law.” Shed Tears—elevated by Lena Byrd Myles’ soaring vocals—offers up incisive comments on black masculinity and his fears about fatherhood, while the Louis Farrakhan-sampling Something For The Junkies is a heartbreaking account of growing up with loved ones who are hopeless addicts, and the hurt and loss that accompanies their inevitable deaths. Run—featuring Young Thug—captures the defiant will to live that underpins black resilience and success, while the sublime 6lack and Eryn Allen Kane jazz-hop collab NRICH references Uncle Toms and Sam Greenlee’s novel The Spook Who Sat By The Door to make a potent argument against the internecine strife that undercuts black unity and resistance. The record’s high point comes on Motherless, a gut-wrenching, starkly honest elegy for the mother and grandmother who raised Mike, his earthy, heartbroken baritone in sharp counterpoint to Kane’s ethereal melismas. On Talk’N That Shit, the Michael who has spent all album taking responsibility for his decisions—good and bad—gives way to slight “old man yells at cloud” energy as he dismisses criticism as “woke ass s**t”, rhyming it with a vaguely homophobic Brokeback Mountain punchline.