Rapper/activist/Jewel Runner Killer Mike is releasing a solo album MICHAEL on June 16 via Loma Vista Recordings. Today, he's shared a two-part short film as a tribute to his late mother, which includes the record's lead single “Don't Let the Devil” featuring El-P and thankugoodsir and a new track called “Motherless" that features Eryn Allen Kane. The former's visual was directed by Davi Peña with a treatment written by Mike's Run the Jewels partner El-P, a.k.a. Jaime Meline.
“El’s heard me talk about these bohemian-artsy-disco infused parties my mom used to throw when I was a kid,” Mike shared. “So when we were trying to figure out what the video for 'Don't Let the Devil' should be—Jaime came back with this treatment written out and I cried at the end. What’s even crazier is he didn’t know what we were doing for 'Motherless' either but that’s the magic I guess.”
The visual for "Motherless" was directed by Shane Smith and is a solemn dedication to the influence of Killer Mike's mother. “When I first played Dion [No I.D.] the album he said two things—one of which was that I was essentially holding something back and that was the song 'Motherless,'" Mike explained. “It was the last song made for the album because I hadn’t uttered these words out loud since her transitioning. When I tell the story of my mother the tales told include one when I walked in on her attempting to take her own life—it gets to the heart of how deeply sensitive an artist and human she was. She survived, was diagnosed bi-polar and depressed; she fought that until the day she died. She lived a beautifully rich outlaw of a life and I am honored to show her as the total beautiful badass she was.”
Watch the two-part film below, and pre-order MICHAEL here.
