Killer Mike Sets Mini Residency at New York’s Intimate Blue Note Jazz Club

Ethan Shanfeld
·2 min read
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Four-time Grammy winner Killer Mike will take on the Blue Note in New York for a run of intimate shows in July.

The rapper will perform six shows with the Mighty Midnight Revival on July 29, 30 and 31, with two shows per night — at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The concerts are part of Killer Mike’s Down by Law tour.

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Tickets will go on sale April 5 on the Blue Note website.

Killer Mike took home three Grammy awards at this year’s ceremony, winning all three of the categories in which he was nominated: best rap song and best rap performance for his track “Scientists & Engineers” and best rap album for “Michael,” his sixth studio album released in June 2023. These marked Killer Mike’s first Grammy wins since 2003, when he took home the award for best rap performance by a duo or group for his feature on OutKast’s “The Whole World.”

“I’m from an all-Black enclave in Atlanta so I write it from the African-American experience,” Killer Mike told Variety about the making of “Michael.” “But it’s very much an American experience. This is as American as Langston Hughes or Norman Rockwell or a Zora Neale Hurston novel. It is very much rooted in the working class. And in the deep South, gospel and blues play a big part.”

In a strange turn of events, Killer Mike was arrested for misdemeanor battery following a scuffle with a security guard at the Grammys, shortly after his three wins in the pre-telecast. The rapper was released by police later that evening, before the televised ceremony ended.

Killer Mike, who is also an activist who has been outspoken about police brutality, systemic racism and social inequality, discussed his “overwhelming” Grammys night on “The View.”

“Backstage was overcrowded, the winners were exuberant, and I think security got a little overzealous. It’s water under the bridge for me,” he said. “All of my heroes have been in handcuffs — [Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Medgar Evers]. I walked out with the same dignity and respect that I walked in with, and I would implore people to just take that from it. Don’t dwell on the bad stuff.”

The Blue Note will also host a bevy of jazz icons and hip-hop and R&B stars in the coming months, including Masego, BJ the Chicago Kid, Terrace Martin and Wynton Marsalis with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

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