Killer Mike Releases Michael, First Solo Album In 11 Years

ALBUM FEATURES ANDRE 3000, EL-P, 2 CHAINZ, FUTURE, YOUNG THUG, 6LACK, TY DOLLA $IGN, CURREN$Y, ERYN ALLEN KANE, BLXST, AND MORE

THE HIGH & HOLY TOUR KICKS OFF NEXT MONTH, FIND TICKETS HERE

LISTEN TO MICHAEL NOW

Killer Mike has just released MICHAEL, the celebrated MCs first solo full length since 2012’s critically lauded R.A.P. Music; the capstone to a huge week that included appearances on The Breakfast Club, Sway in the Morning, HBO’s The Shop, no less than three billboards in Times Square, plus features in Billboard, Vulture, The Atlantic, New York Times, a SPIN cover story, and more. On Tuesday Mike spoke with Zane Lowe to premiere “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS (ft. Andre 3000 and Future),” a song that prompted an outpouring of critic and fan attention, prompting @RAP to ask if this was the “biggest ATL collab ever” and BET to proclaim that Andre’s feature “reminds us why he’s one of the greatest to ever do it” (meanwhile others rightly pointed out that Mike goes bar-for-bar with his former mentor).

The 14-track album, executive produced by No ID and released by Loma Vista Recordings, includes a panoply of rarified features from the likes of Future, Young Thug, Ty Dolla $ign, Curren$y, Andre 3000, 6LACK, EL-P, Blxst, Eryn Allen Kane, and more (full tracklist below). Over the course of the last few months, Mike has been presenting the album at a series of private listening sessions, guiding intimate gatherings of friends, fans, and colleagues through the autobiographical details of the album in his own words, culminating in a hometown event in Atlanta this past Monday that filled The House of Hope Atlanta to the brim. Meanwhile Mike has been previewing the live presentation of the album, joined by his backup singers The Midnight Revival, for recent performances at SXSW, Shaky Knees Festival, and Bottlerock Festival. Killer Mike and The Midnight Revival will head out on The High and Holy Tour in July. The 19-date US tour kicks off July 10 in Birmingham and makes its way across the US, including an appearance at Pitchfork Music Festival and a performance at New York City’s iconic Apollo Theatre, before wrapping up August 5 in New Orleans. Tickets are on sale now – see full dates below.

MICHAEL serves as a holistic introduction to the totality of Michael Render, a lifelong rap fiend whose consciousness is seeped in the sounds of community that raised him – traversing multiple eras of southern rap flows, Sunday church service, and barbershop discourse. Anticipation for the album has been steadily building over the course of a prodigious run of singles, including “RUN (ft. Young Thug),” “TALK’N THAT SHIT!,” “DON’T LET THE DEVIL (ft. EL-P & thankugoodsir),” “MOTHERLESS (ft Eryn Allen Kane),” culminating in this week’s release of “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS (ft. Andre 3000 and Future).” The album’s sprawling list of features was revealed in conjunction with the last single’s release, unveiled alongside a collage of each featured artists’ respective childhood photos as a callback to Mike’s school yearbook photo on the album cover. Fans are invited to participate as well, with a bespoke Instagram filter that renders a similar effect to the photo treatment on the album’s cover.

Stream/Buy MICHAEL

https://lnk.killermike.com/michael

Find tickets for the High & Holy Tour

https://killermike.com/tour