photo by Mr. Mass
Killer Mike has been nothing if not dedicated in the last couple of years with the release of both his own crushing solo record R.A.P. Music and the darkly sublime Run The Jewels collaboration with producer and longtime friend El-P. Now it seems that Mike has been going even harder thus far into 2014 with three full-length releases plus a mixtape, all nearly ready in his studio stable. One of these, we're hyped to learn, is the next Run The Jewels record, which there were rumblings about last fall.
Mike also made it clear in an interview with Rolling Stone that his sequel to 2012's R.A.P. Music will be dropping later this year and is the kind of record that lets fans "fully understand me as a human and as an entertainer." The Atlanta MC also promised that a new installment in his I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind mixtape series and yet another solo LP of "weird and wild and wonderful" tracks tentatively labeled The Elegant Elephant will bless our eardrums in the future.
But Run The Jewels fans won't have to wait long for new material, if all goes according to plan. Mike says that work on the record should wrap this spring, and that its sound has more teeth than last summer's debut effort.
"[It's] much darker and much harder than I thought it would be. It's pushed me into some darker crevices of my personality...We're knee-deep in creating...Throwing flows and patterns out, just picking beats we like. It's all pretty instinctual. We're just in there rapping like rabid dogs right now. Neither one of us are resting on our laurels."
With so much ready to take flight, Mike is keeping his attitude grounded. "I'm just a lucky bastard to be living off rap," he said.
