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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ammar Kalia

‘I will never be against the second amendment’: Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike on rap, racism and gun control

Killer Mike (Michael Render) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Killer Mike (Michael Render) in Atlanta, Georgia. Photograph: Rita Harper/The Guardian

‘I definitely lead a non-politician life; I smoke weed and I go to strip clubs with my wife,” the rapper Killer Mike says with a laugh. “But I care about people and I have a duty to my community. I am not an angry old man – I am a participator.” As if to demonstrate at least some of that, he lights a blunt.

As a musician and an activist, Killer Mike has long balanced pleasure and responsibility. Now 47, he first came to the world’s attention in the early 2000s, when he featured on several tracks with the Atlanta hip-hop duo Outkast before launching a solo career.

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