Killer Mike has opened up about his desire to win a Grammy for his latest solo album ‘Michael’, saying that he doesn’t “want to die unrecognised”.
The Run The Jewels rapper released the long-awaited follow-up to 2012’s ‘R.A.P. Music’ back in June. Mike last month earned three nominations for the Grammy Awards 2024 in the following categories: Best Rap Album (‘Michael’), Best Rap Song (‘Scientists & Engineers’ feat. André 3000, Future, and Eryn Allen Kane) and Best Rap Performance (‘Scientists & Engineers’).
He previously received a nod from the Recording Academy when Danger Mouse‘s 2017 collaborative track ‘Chase Me’ (feat. Run The Jewels and Big Boi) was in the running for Best Rap Song.
Mike also appeared on OutKast‘s 2001 single ‘The Whole World’, which went on to win the Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group at the 2003 ceremony.
Back in November 2020, Mike hit out at the Grammy Awards for not receiving a single nomination for Run The Jewels’ fourth and most recent studio record ‘RTJ4’. “Fux whoever ain’t fuck with us (Lames),” he wrote.
During a new interview with NME (which took place before this year’s nominees were revealed), the rapper explained: “I want to march into the Grammys and march out with a trophy or two. We’ll see how that goes.
“But no matter what happens, I’ll be back to work before the end of the year.”
It was then put to Mike how “open” and “vulnerable” he had been in admitting that he would like to win a Grammy for ‘Michael’. “I’m not gonna lie and act like I don’t want it, or I’m above it and just do it for the art,” he responded. “I would like for ‘Michael’ to be recognised.”
The artist continued: “Van Gogh was so amazing, but he died unrecognised. I don’t want to die unrecognised… I heard Muhammad Ali talk about being humble. He said, ‘I’ve tried to be humble. Y’all didn’t listen to me when I drove a little car, stayed in a little house. When I started talking braggadociously and wearing diamonds and things, that’s when people listened!’
“You have to recognise that. For as humble in spirit as I am, people really look at me and listen a lot better when I got eight pounds of gold on my neck. Because they know I’m not fucking playin’!”
Mike went on to tell NME that he “would like an opportunity to have those trophies”, adding: “I’ll never forget what Lauryn [Hill] made Black girls and girls across the board feel with The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. And seeing her with that armful of Grammys – whether she cares about them anymore or not – meant everything to us as fans because a true MC got validated.
“I didn’t give a fuck if she was a man or a woman. I was just like: ‘That’s us!’ The people that have supported me for 20 years and Run the Jewels in the last 10 years… I would like to give them that feeling.”
Hill’s aforementioned 1998 record bagged her five Grammys at the awards ceremony the following year, including Album Of The Year and Best R&B Album (via Grammys).
Elsewhere in his conversation with NME, Mike spoke about why 2023 was the right time to release ‘Michael’ and touched on the response to the project: “It speaks to people [and] a commonality amongst a worker-class, even though it’s race-specific because I’m talking about me as this little Black boy growing up in his Black enclave in Atlanta.”
