Killer Mike Grindtime Records Purple Ribbon

Words by Jesse H.

Y’all know the feeling… the digits on your blaring alarm clock read impossibly early, and from that first step off the bedsprings, you know things just aren’t going your way from sun up to sun down. You miss breakfast, only catch a glimpse of the news on your way out the door and see nothing but talking heads spreading depressing misconceptions about the gloomiest stories they can find. It’s one of those days where everything, even your favorite music, can piss you off.

I was having a day like the one above and on my excruciatingly long walk to work (I’d missed my ride), nothing to fit my mood was coming through my headphones. But fate intervened, and Shuffle picked one of those songs that fit the moment so perfectly well, that I had to wonder whether Apple puts spy cameras in their iPods. The tune? “Bad Day, Worst Day,” by Killer Mike, who is easily on the current top 5 of most slept on MC’s.

While dude always did his thing on all his Outkast guest spots, the lackluster debut album Monster went gold and fizzled, and Killer Mike was forced to go back to the lab for his second effort Ghetto Extraordinary. All seemed well, especially with the buzz around the aforementioned, “Bad Day, Worst Day,” a track that was like a kneecap to the side of the skull for anyone still doubting his rawness. But after a “Train of Thought” spot in XXL, and much internet brouhaha over the swipe at Dre 3000, the album got real familiar with whatever shelf it was resting on.

With the album’s status in limbo, his relations with one in his clique unsteady (peep “Promise I Will Not Lose”), and his standing with the rest of Purple Ribbon unsure, Killer Mike threw up the middle finger and released the fantastic underground album I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind, which even six months later, continuously hits the listener with those quotes that every rapper wished they’d said but didn’t have the guts (“But Oprah’d rather put Superhead on T.V…”).

The game’s been thirsting for a hungry, pissed off, semi-political MC since Ice Cube did “Are We There Yet?” With brutally honest lyrics, willingness to attack issues that need addressing, monster punchlines, and iron-headed ad-libs, Mike is the logical choice, but nobody seems to be playing ball with the kid. Someone get this guy an album deal, and PLEASE let him off the bench, I promise he won’t lose.


Killer Mike – “Bad Day, Worst Day”


Killer_Mike_And_Grind_Time_Official-The_Grind (2006)


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