A year and a half ago, Killer Mike b/k/a Mike Bigga released his I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II album on SMC/Grind Time Music. Featuring Ice Cube, 8Ball & MJG, Chamillionaire, Gangsta Pill, S.L. Jones and others, the release would go on to enter the Top 200 album sales, as well as win HipHopDX’s “Album Of 2008” Award.
In a truly bold move, Mike has decided to give away this retail album for free, to HipHopDX readers. Starting tomorrow at 9am, DX will host an exclusive giveaway of the 17 track collection sponsored by Killer Mike, Grind Time and SMC Records.
Yesterday evening, Mike Bigga told HipHopDX about his opinion of the 2008 summer release. “Texas kind of turned me out on doin’ underground [albums] versus doing mixtapes. I’ve always been heavy about doing nice little boutique pieces of art and selling them. [I choose that] over oversaturation, partially because I never had the funds it took to oversaturate. If any artist puts out 50,000 or 60,000 mixtapes, a lot of times, they have a lot of money behind them where they paid like $25,000 to have those tapes pressed up. I always stress quality over quantity. With I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II, the quality, I feel was far superior to what came out status quo last year. It was on the level of Paper Trail [by T.I.], The Recession by Young Jeezy and Rick Ross’ Trilla.”
Just as his famed intro challenged listeners that the album would be the “soundtrack to their success,” Mike says it was prophecy. “People who’ve got [I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II], this record has changed they life! I know musicians say that a lot of times and it’s bullshit, but people really use that record as the soundtrack to they life. If you like on YouTube, there’s a skinny, white kid who has transformed to a hulk [because of “Can You Hear Me”]. Cats who were going to Iraq told me that this was the record that they were taking.”
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Citing the quality and creativity coming from Drake, Lil Wayne and Jay-Z, Mike deduced. “People are seeking quality [music] again. I thought that rather than go try to run and just kill ’em with quantity, quantity, quantity, how cool would it be to give away the last album as promotion for the next record?”
Visit HipHopDX.com tomorrow starting at 9am to download your copy of the acclaimed album, and hear more of Mike’s thoughts on it, and I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind III.
