Killer Mike recently wrapped an interview with XXL during which he revealed plans to follow his last release with three more albums - two of them slated to drop in 2014. I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind IV will follow three previous motivational albums in the Pledge series and is slated to include production from El-P and Harry Fraud. Killer Mike commented on the forthcoming installment.
“[I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind IV] is gonna be what Pledge is – motivation music. Anybody who’s listened to Pledge knows that,” he said. “I’m motivated to lose a little weight, so hopefully I’ll be smaller when Pledge IV comes out. The Pledge series has always been about setting goals; it’s been about dope music, but they’ve become almost like research papers with thesis statements. When started PL3DGE with ‘So Glorious’ – you know, ‘My story is so glorious/Fat fly boy, young Notorious’ – it was just my whole description of what I had been through, and Pledge II started with this speech that people love…and Pledge I was about leaving Purple Ribbon and leaving a major label and becoming this new thing on my own, so Pledge has always been about defining who I am at that moment and where me and my supporters can go together…Pledge IV is gonna be more of that over bigger, deffer beats. Harry Fraud is gonna be on that, El-P is gonna be on that.”
Killer Mike intends to follow Pledge with The Elegant Elephant and R.A.P. Music II - the sequel to last year's R.A.P. Music project with El-P. R.A.P. Music II and Pledge are tentatively scheduled to drop in 2014. No word yet on when The Elegant Elephant will come. Killer Mike gave specific plans for at least one of the releases.
“For R.A.P. Music II, me and El are gonna do shrooms, smoke weed and go back in a do it again” he said. “For The Elegant Elephant, that is my Moby Dick. I’m the captain of a ship on a fuckin’ boat chasing that whale. I’m supposed to evolve into whatever The Elegant Elephant is going to be, and I can’t honestly tell you the sound, except for it’s going to be musical and it’s going to be big and it’s gonna be soulful…[but] I’ll definitely have R.A.P. Music II and Pledge IV finished and ready for 2014.”
Be on the look out for Killer Mike as details emerge about his projects and release dates. In the meantime you can catch him out on the road with Big Boi for the Shoes For Running Tour which starts this weekend in Tampa, Florida.
