I’d say that it’s uncanny that Mike wrote this song six months before Trayvon Martin, but only a fool would act that dirty cops are something new. I’ll spare the liberal salvo and the eye-rolling white blogger schtick where I rail against the police from behind a computer screen. The problem isn’t cops per se, but the corruption and violence in the American psyche. That’s why Killer Mike is a great artist and not merely an impassioned and eloquent complainer. He knows his history, but he also understands that it goes beyond the 21 gun-salute lust simmering in the bloodstream of much of the military and police.
It’s less a white or black thing than it’s about people’s craven demand for control. It’s about power and the ability to crush. Complaining about the cops is easy. Anyone can make jokes about bacon and swine, but it is harder to understand why, and impossible to figure out how the illness can be eradicated. Human nature is a motherfucker. Maybe I’m extrapolating a little too far, but I don’t think so. “Don’t Die” is far from subtle. It is a salvo, one that could not be stronger. At heart, Mike is an optimist. He still believes that people can change. And that’s why his music is important.
MP3 below the jump, alongside two more from the forthcoming fantastic R.A.P. Music.
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