Killer Mike has been in the Hip Hop game for more than two decades — but if things had gone differently during flight school with Slim of 112, he’d have had a very different career trajectory.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, which dropped on Thursday (June 15), the Run The Jewels rapper revealed that he decided to sign up for flight school when a teacher of his recommended him to do so, but his efforts ultimately fell flat, and he pursued the rap career he’d always wanted.
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“You’re seeing that kid’s imagination fight not to die in the fourth grade when Miss Ely said: ‘You’re too smart to be a rapper, Michael, you should be a pilot,'” he said. “So when he got a chance to learn how to fly for free at another high school, he went with Slim from 112 and they learned how to fly planes together. And then he went back to his fourth-grade teacher and said: ‘I still want to be a rapper.'”
He continued: “I saw a clip from Nip say: ‘I just didn’t, I made mistakes, I failed, but I wouldn’t quit.’ So, if you know, you don’t. Now, I can’t say, some people sell it for everybody. Anybody who usually say it like this going to charge you $20 at the end. Don’t quit. I’ll show you how to not, nah.
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“If you know are dope, you know the sucker who in front of you don’t deserve to be there and you know the lane behind you or take the light if you don’t take it, stay about it. Do not quit. That’s it. Don’t quit.”
Listen to Killer Mike’s interview with Zane Lowe below:
Despite a well-meaning but misguided teacher’s best efforts, Killer Mike didn’t let the flight school failure derail his career. However, recently, the “Don’t Let the Devil” rapper shared that 50 Cent almost inadvertently did early on his career.
In a new interview with Spin magazine, the rapper discussed how he overcame self-doubt early in his career, revealing that his first record deal with Columbia Records “damaged” him.
According to Killer Mike, despite his debut album, Monster, selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S., the reception was deemed “lukewarm” in comparison to some of his peers at the time, such as 50 Cent, whose 2003 major label debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, sold 872,000 copies in its first week alone while on its way to almost 10 million.
“My first record deal damaged me. It made me afraid, it pulled me back. I hadn’t done terribly on the major. I just, you know, I came out the same year as 50 [Cent], selling 10 million fucking records. I sold, you know, 500,000.”
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It was then that the rapper said he realized he was more comfortable with “independent circles.”
Killer Mike’s new album, Michael, is due out on Friday (June 16) and features the acclaimed single “Scientists & Engineers” featuring a spellbinding verse from André 3000 as well as Future and Eryn Allen Kane.
