Who is Killer Mike?
You may have heard this name before and if you watched the Grammys in February then you know that he won three Grammys for best rap song, best rap album, and best rap performance. This upset a lot of people who wanted Travis Scott, Drake, or Metro Boomin to win, especially for the best album of the year. After winning the Grammys people on the internet started posting memes and going viral making fun of Killer Mike, saying “Who the F*** is Killer Mike.” People either made fun of him or supported him. But how did he get to where he is today?
He won the Grammys because of the lyrics in his art and best rap performance with the help of a man named Future Andre 3000. Most people think they know who should have won best song of the year but they just wanted their favorite artists to win a Grammy. The Grammys is not a popularity contest. Facts will always beat opinions and if you look deep into the work of all the rappers at the Grammys you would know killer Mike was the best choice for his awards.
According to his documentary “Trigger Warning,” Michael Santiago Render aka Killer Mike was born in Atlanta, GA on April 20, 1975. His father was a policeman and mother a florist. He spent most of his early life in Atlanta. Growing up, Killer Mike started getting interested in hip hop as he was influenced by artists like Schoolly D and NWA.
According to kepplerspeakers.com, he got his stage name when a man called him him that for “killing the microphone.”
According to Pianity, Killer Mike made his first album in 2003 named “Monster” under the label Purple Ribbon Records which was well received by a lot of people, selling over 500,000 copies. It also got decent reviews by critics. According to Billboard his newest album “Michael,” which won best rap album of the year, sold around the same as his first album and got 1.4 million listeners on Spotify. Surprisingly, his net worth is only $5 million dollars, which is pretty low compared to some of the other rappers who were at the Grammy’s who have a much larger audience. His net worth might be small but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have talent. It just means he hasn’t had as much influence other rappers have, like Travis Scott.
A lot of people don’t take him seriously or make fun of him but other people think he is the best rapper from his time. For example, Kendrick Lamar stated in one of his songs “Critics wanna mention that they miss when hip hop was rappin’ M***** ****** if you did then Killer Mike would be platinum.” This shows that Kendrick fully supports and respects Killer Mike.With that in mind, you can get a picture or clue to what killer Mike has done in his journey, why he won those Grammys, and have more respect for him.
