All of us, as citizens, need to kind of get over our classisms and vote for the betterment of us all.

I've made classic records, and going into making 'R.A.P. Music,' I was determined to top the entire legacy of the 'Pledge' series, and the fact that I won a Grammy, and the fact that I was associated with OutKast, and the fact that I'm a Dungeon Family member.

The older I get, the more of an anarchist I become, and I don't mean in a punk rock way.

Bernie Sanders is the only politician who, consistently for 50 years, has taken that social justice platform into politics.

I'm not going to stop being who I am.

I am Michael Render - that's what my mom named me. 'Killer Mike' is what my dumb friends called me in a rap battle once, and it stuck.

I'm an alpha male.

Ultimately, Dead Prez should have went multi-platinum. But when people didn't rally around them, I knew the black hip-hop audience had become far less politicized.

Freedom is not something you're even trying to fight for; you are free. Go. Make sure you live free every day.

Government should fear the people, not the other way around.

You a role model by way of someone will model after your role. They'll model themselves after what they perceive is success. That doesn't mean they take your morality and virtue seriously. They want what you want, and they're willing to do what you do to get it.

I've been a sinner and a saint. If you've been a saint all your life, it's pretty easy to sleep at night. If you've been a sinner, you're just as comfortable in it.

I maintain hope that this country can be what it's supposed to be.

The fact that I'm in a group that inspires others artists is just heaven to me.

This is a beautiful life we lead in spite of whatever things come against us or whatever team loses or wins.

We have essentially gone from being communities that were policed by people from the communities to being communities that are policed by strangers, and that's no longer a community: that's an area that's under siege.

I'm a student of Ice Cube and Scarface, which means the stuff I rap about is not radio-friendly, and it's very opinionated. and it's very much from the perspective of a black man in America, and our opinion ain't always popular when we have a political opinion.

My hope is that very young people in America who have experience with the streets, hip-hop, college, higher learning will fuse all that together. I just want to be the music that can relate to both sides, that stitch together their lives or represents their experiences.

I have hurt my community. I have to look myself in the mirror and know that, and I have to own that in order to grow past that.

The way you start to break down systemic racism is to start building individual relationships with people who are not like you.

Being a cop must be hard. My dad was one and never wanted any of his children to follow in his footsteps.

Those 'Pledge' records did good for me, and they're the foundation that this Killer Mike is built on, but I was judging myself on physical sales and didn't understand that music sales were declining overall.

I cannot lie: as good as it feels to get my deserved props, the best part of reading social media after I meet folks is reading, 'Mike was a nice guy.'

A lot of times, elections are lost, and the hope of the public is lost because they don't turn out.

A lot of time, when you're poor and you ain't got but 15, 20 bucks in your pocket - if you can't change your shoes, you can change your look with a haircut.

I don't want to be married to any ideology, because life is a lot more fluid than that, and I think that we're trained and conditioned in this country to think in teams.

I write in the booth and memorize in rehearsals.

The best advice that I've gotten from Nas is honestly to just be me and to keep staying true to myself. It took me a long time to figure out how to pop, but then, when you get famous, people are kind of like, 'Oh, well, we don't want as much of you.'

I will never take a day off policing the people we pay and keep a public trust with. I will use my camera, my pen, my pad, and my network to do my part, to make sure that Americans will no longer fear their government. Or its employees. They work for us - not the other way around.

I grew up working class in Atlanta.

I was raised a black child in the South, where you're indoctrinated into a religion that an oppressor gave you.

I think all politics is local.

We have a responsibility to do better as black people in this country. I don't care how white people look at you - I care that we have a one-trillion-dollar spending base, and if you want to see change, you have to start to focus on, economically, how can we change our communities.

My mom had did a wonderful job of giving me two great dads: I had a biological and non-biological dad.

If your great-great-grandfather participated on the Confederate side, and you hold some sentimental value to that, and you want to fly the flag and hang their picture up in your home, that's fine. But it should not be on anything that taxpayers pay for, because taxpayers are a part of the Union, not the Confederacy.

Black people shouldn't have permanent friends or enemies: they should have permanent interest.

Jake 'The Snake' Roberts of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was the darkest! I mean, he could've been a movie villain, he was so intense! He also had the hardest finishing move of all time, the DDT.

I believe in smart people.

In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that Senator Bernie Sanders is the right man to lead this country.

I've worked with incredible producers in the past, but when me and El-P got in a room, there was no way I was going to let off his head because not only was he one of the greatest producers I heard, he was one of the illest rappers I had ever heard.

For me, muscle cars are a tribute to American ingenuity.

For the people of Baltimore, I don't criticize rioting, because I understand it. But after the fires die down, organize, strategize, and mobilize.

It's less to do about me - 'Hey, I'm black and it hurts my feelings; it's a symbol of slavery and oppression' - and more to do with the fact that, as an American, I will not honor a group of treacherous traitors. That's why I despise the rebel flag.

Black people need to share collective dollars and demand equal representation, and the way you do that is by controlling their own economy and putting money behind candidates.

We are raising a generation of kids where everyone gets a trophy. But in real life, everyone don't get a trophy.

I've been a music fan all my life, and you know the difference when the musicians care.

People don't accredit Killer Mike and El-P with having the humanity that we do. They don't understand that the darkness and the anger that we rap about comes from a place of love, care, and concern.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a revolutionary, simple and plain.

I believe being honourable lasts longer than rapping good.

America has done a great job making brutally fast, stripped-down cars.