The rap duo Run The Jewels are arguably one of the best acts in hip-hop. Along with duos such as Kriss Kross and Rae Sremmurd, Run The Jewels have found their way into the hip-hop history books and, unlike certain duos, are still going to this day. Killer Mike has been a low-key figure in Southern rap since the 1990s
Ever since, he has been a fascinating cultural figure with an exciting sound and has worked with the best MCs in the industry, including Future, Young Thug and Pusha T. Last year, Killer Mike (real name Michael Render) released a fantastic track entitled ‘Run’. However, one of its features was different, to say the least, and has a compelling story behind it.
Killer Mike has always had political opinions, and at the 2019 Revolt Summit in Atlanta, he even hosted a panel alongside African-American conservative Candace Owens. Still, while recording ‘Run’, its bizarre feature, Dave Chapelle told Render he should run to be the Governor of Georgia.
In a recent interview, Render explained how Chapelle ended up on the track and detailed what he said, explaining, “So I go to a Dave Chappelle show — and Dave is someone I consider a friend, very fortunate to be friends with, love him to death — and he literally has a whole crowd laughing at themselves and a bunch of other shit.”
He continued, “At the end, I get to hang out. Comedians have hangouts after they show where they do old-school shit like smoke cigarettes and drink whiskey. Muthafuckas still smoke cigarettes. So I’m in the cut, smoking a joint that looks like a cigarette. I’m getting high as fuck. Dave calls me out. He says, ‘Hey man, why don’t you run for governor?’ And I’m like, ‘What?!”
Chapelle insisted that despite his profession Render could still enter politics and told him, “You can govern and rap!'” The comedian gave the Atlanta emcee a long-speech about his leadership skills and Mike was moved, revealing, “I was ready to run after that, even though I know it’s not time for me to run, but what he really told me was that it doesn’t matter if you go to strip clubs and smoke weed and you go with your wife and we know all your proclivities. What we’re saying is we trust you, not to be perfect, but to be honest and lead.”
But the speech Chapelle gave the artist affected him to such an extent he asked Chapelle to recreate it so he could put it on his song. Detailing how he approached Chapelle, Render divulged, “I asked Dave, ‘Could you recreate that speech on this for me?’ He was running around finishing some shows, but when he got back home in Ohio, he sent me back gold, and I was like, ‘Oh my fucking God.’ This is definitely what you said to me and the spirit of what you said to me. It turned out to be something amazing. I have listened to it for motivation.”
You can listen to Chapelle’s speech on ‘Run’ in the video below.
