Music

Killer Mike gives tearful on-stage speech after Ferguson grand jury decision

by Tyler Munro

Killer Mike has been a welcomed voice in the months since officer Darren Wilson murdered unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Besides the fact that he’s incredibly well-spoken, the Run the Jewels rapper has been able to provide a unique perspective on not just the incident itself, but the context surrounding it; as a black man, an artist, a rapper, a licensed member and supporter of the NRA and as kin to several cops.

When the murder first happened—the unarmed Brown was fatally killed in broad daylight on Saturday, August 9th—Killer Mike was quick to comment. In an essay, he wrote that “whatever this country is willing to do to the least of us, it will one day do to us all,” but still held out hope, both as a card-carrying American and as the son of a cop, that justice could be served. When the world learned last night that it wouldn’t, and that, barring an impending Department of Justice investigation Darren Wilson would not be indicted, let alone charged or put to trial, Killer Mike did what we all felt like doing: He broke down.

By total coincidence, Run the Jewels were in nearby St. Louis for a performance at the Ready Room when the news was announced—remember, Attorney Robert P. McCulloch decided to announce the decision at 9 p.m.—and before starting their set, Mike left it all out in the open.

“I would like to say rest in peace to Michael Brown,” he told the crowd. “I would like to give all thoughts and prayers to the people that are out there peacefully protesting, and I would also give thoughts and prayers to the people who could not hold that anger in, because riots are only the language of the unnerved.”

He continued, his voice now shaking, as he explained that while the duo usually comes out to Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” that sometimes “shit comes along and kicks you on your ass and you don’t feel like a champion.”

By the time he spoke about the decision not to indict Wilson itself, tears seemed to be overtaking him.

“I knew it was coming. I knew when fucking Eric Holder decided to resign, I knew it wouldn’t be good,” he explained.

“When I stood on the bus, and I cried, and I hugged my friend, and he came and he hugged me, right there, I said ‘these motherfuckers got me today.’ When I stood in front of my wife, and I hugged her, and I cried like a baby, I said ‘these motherfuckers got me today’. But with that said, you motherfuckers will not own tomorrow. We will not live in your fear, we will not accept your dangers, we’re not going to keep playing that race card because we know you don’t value my skin, and we know you do value [El-P’s], but we’re friends and we are not going to devalue that.”

And then, right before starting their set with “Run the Jewels,” he told the crowd how things really are. “I want you to know, it is us against the motherfucking machine.”