Killer Mike - I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind
Album Review by: Jason Fleurant
Mon, October 9th, 2006
You want to talk about label trouble? Yeah we all know about Joe Buddens issues with Def Jam. But lets talk about the Atlanta native lyrical beast that is Killer Mike. Michael Render who earned the name Killer Mike after slaughtering several fellow MC's in battles has seen his hard shares. After releasing his debut album "Monster" in 2003, having a hit track on Madden 04, as well as being signed by one of rap biggest groups (Outkast). You'd think things would be running smooth for the beast, it couldn't be further from the truth.
His long awaited follow up 'Ghetto Extraordinary' has been pushed back so much, it looks like Jerry Rice hair line (oooooooooh no he didn't!). Not only that, after signing with Big Boi's Purple Ribbon Records via Columbia he has dealt with issues with fellow member C-Bone. Determine to take his fate into his own hands, Mike founded his own label Grind Time Records and has dropped a blazing hot street album to take what is rightfully his, Respect.
From the intro called "The Pledge" Killer's double cd is displayed as more than just an average street joint but a battled cry for war- " the grind is you, the grind is truth, the grind is friend, the grind is crew". On a soul sped up sample driven "Comin' Home Atlanta", Killer shouts out his love for his hometown as he travels back home on a plane. Going into that killer instinct is the soon to be hood classic "The Juggernaut", where he brutally slaughters the beat with a ill flow thats on a mission. Letting it be known that he has no equal - "the era of the bullsh!t is over/ I will dismember and disfigure he, who figure he/ ever near to me, or dear to me/ lyrically, I will abolish he" letting foes and friends alike that play time is over.
The creativeness is display o...(continued below)
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n bangers like "The Next Bitch", where he details his relationship with three different women, all of which being metaphors for Coke, The Rap Game, and his new love Corporate America. Then Killer shows off his story telling skills on "Deuces Wild". Killer details from his point of view a story after a day of trapping getting rob by two men, and the dangers of not keeping your homies in check. The hits don't stop there, he introduces us to his artists on songs like "Sag's N Flags", "What's Da Bizness", and "H.N.I.C". On "H.N.I.C," Mike's new artist from Little Rock, Arkansas named S.L. Jones shines showing that he's next up saying "Jones, I got the spirit of a go getter/ no ni**a flow better/ flap jack, toe flipper/ phat back, hoe stripper/" with a silky smooth flow.
The anger and frustrations are not escaped from this opus. On the track "That's Life", Mike in true killer fashion puts the recent detractors ( Oprah, Bill Cosby, Bush) of Hip-Hop and ghetto children in check. Becoming the voice of the voice he aim's at Oprah saying "Killer Mike can give a damn if it's me you ain't liking/ the last great debate I had was with Michael Eric Dyson/ call me a dumb rapper/ Girl stop, you'd be hard press to find a rapper smart as me/ Maybe Jay-Z, 2Pac, C.U.B.E/ but Oprah rather put Superhead on TV." He even goes as far as to elaborate a little on the Kanye West anti-Bush comments spitting "George Bush don't give a sh!t about blacks, no sh!t Sherlock!/ plus his daddy's CIA flooded the hood with rocks/ and his momma said the women should feel right at home/ getting raped in the bathroom of the superdome/ the comments Kanye made where damn near right/ but Bush hates poor people, be it black or white/".
Speaking of retaliating towards comments, the now Infamous "I Will Not Loose" diss track is also here. After C-Bone made a reference to Mike's non appearance to a birthday bash in Atlanta saying "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show". 28 hrs and 35 minutes as Mike brags the venomous "I Will Not Loose" slaughter his one time label mate. "God in the building, kneel at the alter/ hating ass ni**as, heard you talking/ I can't fault ya/ see a line in my rhyme will blow and f*cking fame you/ I'd rather see you sitting on the sideline and shame you/". He goes on to say "If he really was your boy he'd a bought you a chain too/ ain't you from the same crew/ I know you his homie, you don't need 'em like them folk/ but the truth is ni**a you a sidekick hoe" mocking the relationship between Bone and Big Boi.
You want to talk about having no lyricist, you want to scream out from the top of your lungs Hip-Hop is Dead. Go ahead, knock yourself out, but for real Hip-Hop heads Oct. 31st you got to cop this album. Killer Mike is here and he's problem. One of the few double albums that doesn't fall off but is hot all the way through and full of fire lyrics and great concepts. Killer Mike has accepted the challenge of taking his career into his own hands and is ready to let the world know he will not loose. "I decided to stop being like a f*cking rapper, and a M. C. E. O" he says "I'm a MC, and Executive Officer of a lot of dope songs". It's official Grind Time Rap Gang, Bang Bang!