Top 70 Killer Mike Quotes

We are raising a generation of kids where everyone gets a trophy. But in real life, everyone don’t get a trophy.

I’ve worked with incredible producers in the past, but when me and El-P got in a room, there was no way I was going to let off his head because not only was he one of the greatest producers I heard, he was one of the illest rappers I had ever heard.

I’m a man’s man.

I’m an alpha male.

I grew up working class in Atlanta.

I have hurt my community. I have to look myself in the mirror and know that, and I have to own that in order to grow past that.

The older I get, the more of an anarchist I become, and I don’t mean in a punk rock way.

We have essentially gone from being communities that were policed by people from the communities to being communities that are policed by strangers, and that’s no longer a community: that’s an area that’s under siege.

The fact that I’m in a group that inspires others artists is just heaven to me.

Freedom is not something you’re even trying to fight for; you are free. Go. Make sure you live free every day.

Nas is truly one of the greatest lyricists to ever come out of Queens, which has produced more great MCs than any other borough. He’s one of the greatest MCs of my lifetime and in the world. He’s also a friend.

You can’t argue that hip-hop rots away the moral character of kids or rots their brain and still see middle-class white kids going to college who are listening to hip-hop. Going on to become healthy adults listening to hip-hop.

It’s less to do about me – ‘Hey, I’m black and it hurts my feelings; it’s a symbol of slavery and oppression’ – and more to do with the fact that, as an American, I will not honor a group of treacherous traitors. That’s why I despise the rebel flag.

I don’t let people talk bad about Rick Ross around me. Like, you can’t do it. He owns – I’ve heard a legend – 30 Wing Stops in the areas he grew up near. You can never say anything about him. If that represents ten jobs per place, that’s 310 jobs provided.

Being a cop must be hard. My dad was one and never wanted any of his children to follow in his footsteps.

America has done a great job making brutally fast, stripped-down cars.

People don’t accredit Killer Mike and El-P with having the humanity that we do. They don’t understand that the darkness and the anger that we rap about comes from a place of love, care, and concern.

I write in the booth and memorize in rehearsals.

I have white friends who have the Confederate flag on their license plates, and I have no issue with that if they see that as a matter of heritage. But I do not think it should ever fly over a state, city, county building, or school, for the simple reason that it represents secession from the Union.

I cannot lie: as good as it feels to get my deserved props, the best part of reading social media after I meet folks is reading, ‘Mike was a nice guy.’

Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was the darkest! I mean, he could’ve been a movie villain, he was so intense! He also had the hardest finishing move of all time, the DDT.

In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that Senator Bernie Sanders is the right man to lead this country.

My hair is dry. A lot of shampoos and greasers don’t work with me, and so I started playing around with a chemist on a product that’ll work with me.

A lot of times, our greatest minds are locked into a 9-5 job.

If you don’t like the NRA, get a million black people to join. Go to the convention. Realize that this ain’t white people in hoods, just regular working class people like you that are probably going to be friendly and engage you. And then add your thoughts to the agenda.

I maintain hope that this country can be what it’s supposed to be.

I’m happy to be for people what Scarface, Ice Cube, and Rakim have been for me.

I’m not going to restrict myself as an artist.

We need more Rocafellas; we need more Bad Boys.

No Child Left Behind left a lot of kids behind.

Rap, to me, is communal. It’s something you do with your friends. So becoming a member of a group was the dream.

In my 20s, I was just angry.

Black people need to share collective dollars and demand equal representation, and the way you do that is by controlling their own economy and putting money behind candidates.

We have a responsibility to do better as black people in this country. I don’t care how white people look at you – I care that we have a one-trillion-dollar spending base, and if you want to see change, you have to start to focus on, economically, how can we change our communities.

I’m a student of Ice Cube and Scarface, which means the stuff I rap about is not radio-friendly, and it’s very opinionated. and it’s very much from the perspective of a black man in America, and our opinion ain’t always popular when we have a political opinion.

The way you start to break down systemic racism is to start building individual relationships with people who are not like you.

A lot of times, elections are lost, and the hope of the public is lost because they don’t turn out.

My grandmother had been a part of the civil rights movement.

I believe in smart people.

A lot of time, when you’re poor and you ain’t got but 15, 20 bucks in your pocket – if you can’t change your shoes, you can change your look with a haircut.

For the people of Baltimore, I don’t criticize rioting, because I understand it. But after the fires die down, organize, strategize, and mobilize.

Black people shouldn’t have permanent friends or enemies: they should have permanent interest.

For me, muscle cars are a tribute to American ingenuity.

Bernie Sanders is the only politician who, consistently for 50 years, has taken that social justice platform into politics.

Atlanta is unique to me. You got poor black people, but I also saw this: I saw black doctors, lawyers, educators. All you gotta do is want to be it to see it, and once you see something, it can be a reality.

I’ve been a sinner and a saint. If you’ve been a saint all your life, it’s pretty easy to sleep at night. If you’ve been a sinner, you’re just as comfortable in it.

My mom had did a wonderful job of giving me two great dads: I had a biological and non-biological dad.

You a role model by way of someone will model after your role. They’ll model themselves after what they perceive is success. That doesn’t mean they take your morality and virtue seriously. They want what you want, and they’re willing to do what you do to get it.

My ears are shot. I’m a musician.

Being in love makes you feel kind of naive.

Being a cop is often seeing the worst of the human condition and behavior. With all of that said, there is no reason that Mike Brown and also Eric Garner are dead today – except bad policing, excessive force, and the hunt-and-capture-prey mentality many thrill-seeking cops have adapted.

If we could figure out ways for kids to exit college without having the burden of debt, what we have really figured out is how to create a more fertile breeding ground for people who can think innovatively and progress us as a species.

Government should fear the people, not the other way around.

My hope is that very young people in America who have experience with the streets, hip-hop, college, higher learning will fuse all that together. I just want to be the music that can relate to both sides, that stitch together their lives or represents their experiences.

I think all politics is local.

Rap is supposed to scare soccer moms.

I like the New York style of funk, the California style of funk, but the South I never felt like – and Atlanta particularly – got the credit for taking their lessons and progressing on it.

I believe being honourable lasts longer than rapping good.

I don’t understand how any black person can tell me that they’re not pro-gun.

I prefer a real villain to a false hero.

This is a beautiful life we lead in spite of whatever things come against us or whatever team loses or wins.

I never stop reading. I read everything, and I read every day. If you never read anything, be curious. Curiosity is the true foundation of education, reading things that we’ve factually already agreed on, and I love reading books. With that said, it’s more important that you ask the question ‘why.’

Those ‘Pledge’ records did good for me, and they’re the foundation that this Killer Mike is built on, but I was judging myself on physical sales and didn’t understand that music sales were declining overall.

I just like cars, period. I can find something to like about pretty much any car. I’ve had as much fun whipping around Italy in a little Mini Cooper as I’ve had whipping through Miami in a Bentley GT.

The best advice that I’ve gotten from Nas is honestly to just be me and to keep staying true to myself. It took me a long time to figure out how to pop, but then, when you get famous, people are kind of like, ‘Oh, well, we don’t want as much of you.’

I have matured as a man to understand where my suspicion of women comes from and how that has everything to do with me and nothing to do with them. I have to deal with that.

I used to have go-karts and mopeds and motorcycles when I was a kid. Then my grandpa let me drive a real car at about 13 or 14 and I just… I never cared about bikes again after that.