Killer Mike has released his first solo music in roughly a decade.
On Monday (July 4), the Run the Jewels rapper dropped the powerful new single “Run,” featuring an opening monologue from comedian Dave Chappelle and a verse from jailed rapper Young Thug.
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The No I.D.-produced track is Mike’s first solo music since his 2012 album, R.A.P. Music. Since then, he’s collaborated with producer/rapper El-P in the hip-hop duo Run the Jewels, whose last release, RTJ4, arrived in 2020.
In the war-themed music video for “Run,” Mike is seen on a battlefield, where a battalion of Black soldiers are fighting for their freedom against fascist oppressors.
“If you’re looking at this video, certain things are gonna stand out: Obviously, there’s a war going on for people who want justice and righteousness, and there’s a war that’s symbolized by what you would notice is old Confederate uniforms and Nazi-like uniforms,” he said of the video, according to Rolling Stone.
“I wanted this video — that was inspired by the monologue that Dave Chappelle did at the beginning — to be representative that there’s a fight, the spiritual fight, that is going on every single day with us.”
The surreal Adrian Villagomez-directed clip also references the ongoing legal problems for Young Thug, who is currently behind bars on gang-related charges. During the rapper’s verse, a soldier waves a white flag with the words “Free Thug, Protect Black Art, Free Gunna” (YSL Records rapper Gunna is also in jail as part of the RICO case). The next scene shows another man flashing a white arm band that reads “Free YSL.”
Check out the powerful video for “Run” below.
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