Killer Mike on Rachel Dolezal: “All White People Want To Be Black”
While his bid to be in the Georgia state legislature has apparently been derailed (it turns out he didn't register properly), Killer Mike is still one of the most sought-after voices in hip-hop when it comes to matters political. Last night (June 15), he stopped by The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore to discuss the woman who has, unfortunately for her, become a national talking point: Rachel Dolezal, the Spokane NAACP executive whose parents recently outed her as white. Mike joined a panel that included Wilmore, Robin Thede and Natasha Leggero and was predictably incisive. Amidst recollections of mixed-race German drivers and dreams of being Matthew McConaughey, Mike cracked that "all white people want to be Black," and brought out his iPhone, on which the screensaver is a KKK member wearing wolf-grey Jordans.
Dolezal has elicited remarkable strong reactions from the hip-hop world and the public at large, for obvious reasons. Yesterday, it came out that Dolezal, who claimed to be Black while she held positions in a university's African studies program and at the NAACP, once sued her alma mater, Howard University, for discrimination--against her whiteness.
Killer Mike, long one of the brashest and most outspoken voices in Atlanta's vibrant hip-hop scene, struck gold three years ago when he linked up with New York avant-rap specialist and Def Jux founder El-P. The latter produced Mike's 2012 solo effort R.A.P. Music; they became national stars together a year later with the first installment of their Run the Jewels collaboration. They are currently reworking that record's sequel with backing tracks constructed from cat noises, as per a crowd-sourcing initiative.