Four years after its original release, Killer Mike’s triumphant “Ric Flair” (off 2011’s Pl3dge has a music video. The release was Mike’s birthday present to himself, shared at 4:20 on 4/20:
1.
The clip is a look at Killer Mike the rock star, mugging for the camera under bright lights as he trades verses with Nature Boy. The wrestler has his own, unrhymed boasting methods projected upon Los Angeles skyscrapers. They make a good pair.
The No I.D.-produced track still goes these four years later, and Mike’s words still ring true too. Back when Pl3dge dropped, Mike was concerned the album’s political overtones would come back to him:
Yeah, I got concerns that they’re gonna kill me. I’ve got concerns that unless enough people wake up and pay attention to what I’m saying, either I’m going to have to stop saying it or I’m going to get killed for saying it—one or the other. When I say “they,” [that’s] anybody who has those three letters in their title. Usually it’s an alphabet boy or some type saying, “I’m the GFI—Governmental Federal Investigators.” But I do have fears of dying young based on the things I say.
Four years later, he’s bringing the message to university lectures and killing the media circuit. And he hasn’t exactly toned down his message in the time since. Here’s to four more.
Image via Wrestling with Text
