Twenty-four hours before he attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Killer Mike, one-half of the hip hop duo Run the Jewels, addressed an intimate group of students at MIT. Invited by the school as part of its Hip Hop Speakers Series, Mike, who also delivered a searing address to an audience in St. Louis in the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury decision, gave a talk at MIT that was both witty and deep in which he examined race on both a micro and macro level. Here are some key takeaways from the afternoon:
On what the music industry needs
"We have been used and abused, black artists, and we know that. I would argue that what we need is more black professionals behind the desk. You need more black lawyers and attorneys. You need more black agents. You need more black companies that are the bridge between the larger companies and the artists. So, I would argue we need more Rocafellas, we need more Bad Boys, we need more LaFace Musics, and if you don't have that, you don't have the cultural vanguard that will protect the artists."
On his own bias
"I come to the table full of bigotry. I can't be a racist because I don't have the power, but I do have bigotry. I do come with my own male chauvinism. I do come with my cultural elitism because I went to a good school, too. I come with all that to the table. Because when I come before you guys, I leave all that shit outside the door. I empty my cup so I can learn."
On the "Close Your Eyes" video
"I'm tired. The police are tired. I'm tired of being a black guy, when a cop gets behind me, being afraid. I don't want to feel that way when I'm 80 ... The best way to show that in the video was to show this clumsy, awkward fight that never ends, that's grueling, that both people are tired of."
On what he learned from his father, a police officer
"Cops are cops because they want to do cop shit. They want to solve bank robberies and murders and shit. They don't want to be stopping you in speed traps ... But if you are not putting pressure on politicians to give cops living wages, give cops decent places to live—if you aren't fighting to repress the bullshit parking laws that are coming into your cities—if you aren't doing that, then you are as much a part of the problem that leads to kids getting killed."
