Hip Hop DX recently interviewed Killer Mike and he said some pretty interesting things about Atlanta. I always wondered how the people who are FROM ATLANTA felt about the influx of TRANSPLANTS who REP ATLANTA.

DX: [Laughs] Alright, let’s get back to Grind II. I know you don’t wanna keep talking about this kinda stuff, but you know I gotta ask about “2 Sides.” You’re on a track with the infamous Shawty Lo line talking about those that lie about their location. So are you in any way joining Shawty Lo in his condemnation of T.I.?

KM: Let me tell you something, brother, Michael Render, Carlos Walker, and Clifford Harris are all from the Westside of Atlanta. That’s what that is. So I’m not taking no sides [in their battle]. I’m from Martin Luther King [Street]. If two Bankhead niggas wanna argue, two Bankhead niggas can argue the rest of they life ‘cause I’m arguing with some Martin Luther King niggas over here. That’s what we do on the Westside. The Westside [of Atlanta] is [like] Watts if you from L.A. The Westside is Southside Chicago if you from Chicago. The Westside is Brooklyn if you from New York. It’s a bunch of muthafuckin’ grimey, gritty, hungry [people]. [So] what’s going on with Shawty Lo and Tip, it’s as normal as me arguing with my cousin last week. So no, this [song] is in no way a campaign against the king. I love the king. This ain’t a campaign against the “King of the South” or the “King of Bankhead,” or whichever kings either of them are. I love both them brothers.

This is a campaign against people coming in and reshaping my city. This is a campaign against muthafuckas coming in talking about, “I’m from Atlanta,” but they talking about they a fuckin’ Atlanta Blood or an Atlanta Crip. Or, “I’m from Atlanta” and niggas on that gotdamn fagged-out Midtown shit. That’s not Atlanta, homie. My town is not black Hollywood. My town is a rich, black, cultural diverse center of many black people with different kind of money, different kind of social experiences, different kind of everything. But what we are not is New York part 2. We are not L.A. part 2. We are not San Francisco part 2. We are not any of those other cities part 2. So I’m not gonna accept those labels.

So when I go to a club in Atlanta and a muthafucka tells me that I gotta be dressed like your favorite rapper to get in that club, I’ma tell that muthafucka the club’ll be burnt down if he don’t get his mind correct. Because this is my city for real. And that’s all I’m saying [in “2 Sides”], brother. So it ain’t against no other rapper. I am bigger than every rapper you name. And I’m not talking about, “Oh, I’ve made the most money.” You know how many retarded muthafuckas done hit the lottery? That means nothing to me. What I mean is I have seen the same shit that your Jay-Z’s have seen, that your 50’s have seen, not because I had the money [but] because I paid attention. When I went to Paris with Outkast, I went to the Louvre muthafucka. You know what I mean? I used rap to get me to Africa. [But] I’m not where these [local] niggas at [mentally]. I’m not worried about block supremacy. Get the fuck outta here. I’m worried about people from the hood realizing that the world is bigger than that, and we can accomplish anything. I wanna see more Master P’s, man. I wanna see more Jay-Z’s, more 50 Cent’s. I wanna inspire that outta people. I don’t wanna constantly be in the muthafuckin’ position of trying to down a muthafucka to make me look better.

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