Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music (2012)

Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music (2012)

This record’s inclusion might seem contentious. Yes, Killer Mike had a long and storied career as a solo artist and frequent collaborator with Outkast before he ever met El-P, and his lyricisms take center stage over El’s production. However, together with Cancer 4 Cure, R.A.P. Music forms the blueprint for El’s work in Run The Jewels. Also, R.A.P. Music brought Mike into the wider hip-hop dialog, and for many people sold him as someone with more substance than just “that guy with the verse in ‘The Whole World,’ and ‘Never Scared.'” I place it over Cancer 4 Cure because, while that album makes for an intense roller coaster ride, RAP Music positions Mike as a thoughtful, and loving man as well as a dynamite emcee. Yes, aggressive tracks like “Big Beast,” “Don’t Die” and El-P collab joint “Butane (Champion’s Anthem)” deliver the goods, but the album really finds its footing when it slows down. “Reagan” makes a more direct political statement than El ever has, and does so at a creepy-crawly pace. The last two tracks on the record, “Willie Blake Sherwood,” and “R.A.P. Music,” make for an emotional one-two punch: the first tells the story of Mike’s tempestuous but supportive relationship with his family as a young, untested emcee, and the second explores his relationship with God (or lack thereof) through the lens of hip-hop culture. R.A.P. Music is so good because, as Mike himself raps on the title track’s chorus “This is church, front pew, amen, full clip/ what my people need, and the opposite of bullshit.”