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E K I M E C N E KILELIESR S S E OF THE TIM “T
RLAND AURICE G. GBAEVERLY M Y B S D R O W LIA PHOTOS BY JU
ime is Money” seems to be a favorite saying among people who describe themselves as business people or hustlers. They usually say it when one of their colleagues takes an hour to complete a 5-minute task. Or utter those words after they tell someone how busy they are or why they can’t make it to a certain event.
has officially “cut the ribbon” and went independent. The latest offering from his Grind Time label is the double-album I Pledge Allegiance To the Grind. Heralded by fans, and of course Mike himself, as perhaps one of the best albums to touch record store shelves this year, Pledge officially starts Mike’s journey to become what he calls an “EmCEO.”
In some cases, the phrase holds true. Time, just like money, can be wasted, saved or spent wisely. Money, just like time, can be given or taken away. But the comparisons stop when it comes to getting it back.
It comes after Grind Time’s previous indie releases, 2003’s Dat Crack and 2005’s The Killer, but serves as the first with absolutely no Outkast involvement. Surrounded by self-picked producers Smiff & Cash of Heatwave Productions, Chaotic Beats, B-Don the Architects and the Drum Majors, Pledge features Killer Mike in all of his unchained, unflinching glory.
You can get your money back when you return faulty merchandise. But you can’t retrieve the time you lost trying to make that certain piece of equipment to work. You can get your money back after loaning it to someone. But when you let someone borrow your precious time, its damn near impossible to them to return it to you. The last six years have taught Michael Santiago Render a.k.a. Killer Mike those differences and similarities between time and money. Since signing with the now defunct Outkast-helmed label Aquemini in 2000 (it resurfaced as Purple Ribbon in 2005) he’s appeared on countless ‘Kast projects including every album since Stankonia and the breakthrough single “The Whole World” for which he earned a Grammy. But on the flipside of those highlights, he’s only released one full-length album, Monster, and saw what was supposed to be his sophomore effort, Ghetto Extraordinary go from delayed to deceased. “I think about that album everyday, I listen to the record and look at the pictures,” grimaces Mike. The cover art, shot by Jonathan Mannion, is currently on display at a Downtown Atlanta photo gallery, on sale for $2,400. “[With] that album not coming out, it felt like I took a loss and I didn’t understand why. I felt like a boxer who got knocked out and never made it to the ring. So I told myself that if I can fight again, I won’t lose.” After months of frustration, speculation and even in-house conflict, Mike
“This album is straight me,” he says, sitting barside at tonight’s first stop, Pleaser’s, one of Atlanta’s $5 table dance strip clubs where he has stopped by to drop off new music with the house DJ. “In the past I tried to appease Outkast fans and give them what they may have wanted from me or expected of me. Not his time. This is straight Mike, take it or leave it.” “That’s why I’m in here right now delivering music. I want them to see me. This ain’t no corporation sending you a check at the end of the month, this ain’t Big Boi or Dre or Purple Ribbon. I want people to know that you fuck with me directly.”
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arlier you were having a conversation with Wendy Day, and you told her that you like to do business with gangsters. Why? I like doing business with real gangsters. I grew up around them. And I don’t mean that corny shit where niggas got a thousand gold chains and he tells you about how many bitches he got and how many niggas he done shot. Fundamentally, gangsters are people out of a poor environment who take advantage of the economic opportunities in their environment. Most of the time they have integrity. I don’t like doing business with people who pretend to be gangsters. At the end of the day gangsters live a lifestyle to make sure their families are safe. The best thing is that you don’t have to do business with them if you don’t want to; you have a choice. Just know that if you do you have to be A-1 with it. Gangsters are 77