Killer Mike: Michael review – killer hooks and swaggering, tender introspection

Best known now as half of Run the Jewels, the veteran rapper and activist Killer Mike’s honours stretch back a lot longer: he even has a day dedicated to him (17 July) in his native Atlanta. On his sixth and most personal solo album, more than a decade since the mercurial R.A.P. Music (2012), Mike Render has turned inward on an autobiographical suite that combines swagger with tenderness, rage with mourning, and wheezing organ with soulful hooks. The guest list is dominated by Atlantan talent, from Future and André 3000 on down. The imprisoned Young Thug, accused of criminal gang links based on his lyrics, is another key Atlantan on Run – a powerful track about Render’s own work ethic, and Black men perpetually under fire, unable to find rest or safety.

Michael is largely killer, with little filler. Among the high points on an album that takes a fresh, personal look at southern Black masculinity are tracks where Render discusses the women in his life. Motherless teases out emotional nuances stemming from being raised by his grandmother at his mother’s behest (a florist, she was also trafficking drugs and wanted him safe). Slummer reflects on the emotional complexities of the teenage pregnancies Render was involved with. Throughout, he remains prickly and eloquent.