Killer Mike dropped off his newest solo album, Michael, in June and it has been highly regarded as one of the best rap albums of 2023.
The project boasted an impressive features list, including Young Thug, 6lack, Ty Dolla Sign, Currensy, 2 Chainz—oh, and André 3000, Future, Eryn Allen Kane, and James Blake on the standout track, “Scientists & Engineers.”
In a recent conversation with Complex, Mike and No ID shared how the song came together.
“I've been asking [André] to get on something for a decade,” Mike said. “He's always been like, ‘The song hard. … I'm not into the rap right now,” or he'll be like, “I can't find inspiration.” And this time, we just called Dre to listen to the album. We called him with no expectations. And I remember him asking [if he could] bring something back to play the next day? And I was like, ‘Abso-fucking-lutely.’ And after that, I let the two masters work. I have a picture of us together and it's like I'm sitting here with two Yogi masters like, “Your life's about to change.”
No ID explained Blake’s involvement in the song.
“I just happened to know James Blake really well, he’s a good friend and he'd always tell me, ‘I work with André and he don't put the music out.’ So when André came back the next day after he listened to the album and brought a piece and it had a piece of James in there as a producer, I kinda already knew the context and I knew it was gonna take a village."
“And, at that point, Killer knew it was gonna take a village, too, and you know, a lot of the times the best music is created by a village [but] sometimes, a lot of the times, getting personal credit or different accolades or money can get in the way of that. But luckily, happily, it was the season for him.
No ID continued, “I felt like it was all very innocent and it wasn't strategized. I remember when Killer said ‘I'm gonna have him come through and see what he thinks.’ And I was just like, ‘Yeah, depends on how the weather is that day.’ You never know. And, the weather was good. The weather was good.”
You can listen to "Scientists & Engineers" below.
