Michael “Killer Mike” Render presented his sixth studio LP on June 16. The self-titled Michael is the Atlanta emcee’s first full-length solo project since 2012’s R.A.P. Music.
Apparently, Killer Mike spent a lot of his own money to create Michael. Apple Music’s Ebro Darden spoke to the Run The Jewels member about his latest album during an interview inside Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
“This matters because I spent half a million dollars without asking my wife,” Killer Mike told Darden. “At about a quarter million dollars, she was just like, ‘What the f### are you doing?’”
The 48-year-old southerner continued, “I was like, ‘I’m making the album I’ve always wanted to make.’ And she’s like, ‘We’re a quarter million short. That could have bought a whole nother quarter of a block.’”
Michael features fellow Atlanta natives CeeLo Green, Young Thug, 6LACK, Jagged Edge, Future, 2 Chainz, and André 3000. Plus, Killer Mike recruited other artists like Mozzy, Eryn Allen Kane, Ty Dolla $ign, and Curren$y.
Mike’s Run The Jewels partner El-P also appears on the Michael track “Don’t Let the Devil” along with Thankugoodsir. Production for the LP came from El-P, No I.D., Cool & Dre, DJ Paul, Don Cannon, Honorable C.N.O.T.E., and others.
Before Killer Mike released Michael earlier this month, he and El-P dropped four Run The Jewels albums between 2013 and 2020. The duo will hit the road for the four-city, sixteen-show RTJX 10-Year Anniversary Concert Series beginning in September.
“No, it’s not a breakup. No, it’s not a separation,” said Killer Mike about the future of the Run The Jewels rap group following the release of his new solo effort. “This Michael expands the Run The Jewels universe.”
He also added, “But the character of Killer Mike had an origin story. So I wanted people, like Wolverine to Logan, to see everything that goes into that. So to me, this record even expands further the Run The Jewels universe.”