Hands down, Atlanta native Killer Mike is the most powerful voice in independent Hip Hop today. There’s no need to debate who his competition is, because there is none. A fact made abundantly clear since his I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II was released this week to rave reviews [click to read] and the type of buzz usually reserved for Hip Hop heavyweights backed by bloated major label budgets.

Since traveling a long winding road to his new independence [click here for all the details on that journey], Mike has sold over 35,000 copies of his 2006 street album, I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind - without any formal distribution it should be noted – and subsequently netted a rare partnership for his Grind Time Official label with Bay Area based SMC Recordings (in which Mike retains ownership of his masters) to distribute its sequel.

Boasting high-powered cameos from Ice Cube, 8Ball & MJG and Chamillionaire, as well as nearly flawless production courtesy of NO I.D., Tha Bizness, and Smiff & Cash among others, Grind II should bring Killa Kill’s powerful poems about poverty, pushing, pimpin’, politics, and most importantly progressing to an even larger audience, serving as the perfect prelude to the January ’09 release of Grind III, and his potential return-to-a-major-label release, 16 In The Kitchen [“Me and NO I.D. working on it right now,” Mike noted].

The King Kong of this rap shit took a break recently from his seemingly never-ending grind to once again deliver an interesting and insightful interview to his good friends at HipHopDX, this time with the names Lil Wayne, T.I., Shawty Lo, Big Boi, Andre 3000, Pimp C, Ice Cube, The Game and Snoop Dogg all surfacing within the course of our convo. He also made time to speak on “fake-ass Bloods” in Hip Hop, new arrival ATLiens who are on that “fagged-out Midtown shit,” why “less kids need to be gangstas and more kids need to be Souljah Boy,” and that he is “bigger than every rapper you name,” in addition to many more jaw-dropping statements Mike offered up in this must-read interview.

HipHopDX: I just wanna start off by congratulating you for making a dope-ass album – a skill most artists don’t seem to possess anymore.
Killer Mike : Thank you, man. I been waiting my whole life to hear that, man! And even though cats like[d] me rhyme-wise before, they always liked songs, or they liked the fact that I could rap good. [But] this is my first what I feel like is a cohesive and classic album. So thank you, man.

DX: Well enough of the pleasantries, let’s get to the funkiness. I got a good chunk of questions based off your own words I’m gonna ask you to elaborate on. So let’s just start with your most recent barb on “Killionaire”: “I see these fake-ass Bloods, I keep a tight lip.” Was that a shot at Lil Wayne or no?
KM: That’s a shot at every rapper who is going against the words of T. Rodgers. See, I don’t want you to reduce me or my words to anything petty. And the reason I say that is I accept and acknowledge the accountability that I have as a rapper in influencing the greater public. Now, that being said, when any grown-ass fucking man 25 to 35 will put on a gang bandanna and will represent that to the public as though this is something that’s gon’ progress your life when original gang member[s] who first helped to build that are saying, “No, no, no” – amongst those members being Jeff Fort from the original Black P.Stone Nation, Larry Hoover, who changed the direction of The Gangster Disciples into growth and development, and T. Rodgers of the original Bloods of Los Angeles – when they are saying, “No, turn away from this culture,” and you as any rapper, I don’t give a fuck what your name is, if you promote that you a piece of fucking scum. ‘Cause you promoting death to children who look like you.

And if the originators are saying that… See what I mean by that, if you not from Chicago, and if you not from L.A., please recognize what you doing. When you watch Game [click to read], [he] not only told dudes, "Okay, yeah this is what it was [to gang bang]." But Game don’t hide the fact he [also] played basketball with Baron Davis. Game don’t hide the fact he likes being an intelligent brother. When you look at a Snoop, [he] doesn’t mind coming outta Crip mode and going into intelligent father mode. But if you’re promoting something that’s unbalanced, then that [line is directed] to you, whoever you may be. Because we are risking the lives of millions of black children.

DX: I think you just did it, but you said on that track that you’re “about ready to go Pimp C part 3.” You know there’s no better place to get something off your chest than HipHopDX. [Laughs]
KM: Man, to me, I’m so blessed to be a rapper [that] anytime I grab a microphone I just say I’ma say something true. Even if everything ain’t true, I’ma say something true. I’ma say a truth that somebody can live with or eat off of, or do something more than just remain a flunkie. Continued on page 2 »