Killer Mike Talks to MIT Students About Race + Politics

Over the weekend, Run the Jewels' Killer Mike showed his inherent political side, appearing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and hosting a lecture at MIT. The latter -- taking place on Friday, April 24 -- was part of the university's Hip-Hop Speaker Series, and Killer Mike discussed race and politics with the students. You can watch some pre-lecture Q&A clips below.

The politically vocal rapper touched on everything from race in music to the recording industry to police brutality, the third of which is an issue that he has spoken about multiple times before. He equated a record deal to a form of slavery, stating, “Yeah, man, you sold a million records, but goddamnit we didn't make that marketing money back.” He also talked about President Barack Obama, stating that he has not made any remarkable improvements regarding race relations as compared to any other president.

He also broached the topic of voting and how people are not helping to put the right people into office: “These people are not our masters, they’re not our rulers, and if they are I think you should just kill your masters. And that doesn't have to be in the literal, but it does have to be in the 'we won’t vote for you or your stinking party if these things keep happening again.'”

He also discussed the formation of hip-hop music as a way to curb violence in underprivileged areas. Check out some videos from the discussion below:

Run the Jewels' sophomore LP, Run the Jewels 2, is out now via Mass Appeal.