The hip-hop duo also praised grime music in the new interview.
Run The Jewels‘ Killer Mike has defended Kanye West‘s decision to meet with Donald Trump after he won the US Presidential Election.
The Atlanta rapper and his Run The Jewels bandmate El-P have just wrapped up a short UK tour to promote their third project, ‘RTJ 3’. The duo took time out from their live commitments for a new interview with Channel 4 News, which has been posted online today.
Quizzed on West’s controversial meeting with the now-President back in December, Killer Mike found reason to be hopeful over the nature of the meeting.
“It didn’t bother me, why wouldn’t you [meet the President]?” he said. “Black people shouldn’t have permanent friends or enemies, they should have permanent interest. If it wasn’t for Dr. Martin Luther King being willing to meet with people like [Governor] George Wallace, Wallace would have not have ended up starting as a racist bigot and ending as a person who found God in some way, and appointed more blacks to his office than any other governor since.
“So I maintain hope that human beings can steer a change course, but a musician meeting a presidential candidate isn’t important to me, unlike [NFL player] Jim Brown. Brown, for the last 50 years, has fought against oppression of all people. Him sitting with President Trump was a significant thing for me, because I know on the other side of the table he was telling the truth.”
Run the Jewels on grime and Trump
"I always thought it was just rap, personally."American hip-hop supergroup Run The Jewels talk about their love of British grime, and what they think about musicians meeting with President Trump.
Posted by Channel 4 News on Saturday, April 1, 2017
As well as gauging their thoughts on that meeting, the duo were also asked to give their take on grime. El-P praised the genre, expressing his gratitude to the internet for enabling the spread of grime worldwide.
“The internet has allowed us to share in those cultures from a distance,” he remarked. “We don’t have much time when we get here to run around, but I’m a big fan [of grime]. You know, I worked with Dizzee Rascal back in the day, he was kind of my entrance into the grime scene, and you know, people like Wiley and the earlier stuff, and I’m a fan of it.
“I always thought it was just rap, personally,” he continued. “Call it whatever you want, it’s cool – but I see people rapping in a nasty way, so I’ll be a fan of whoever does that.”
Run The Jewels will play at this year’s Glastonbury Festival – see the line-up so far here.
The post Watch Run The Jewels discuss Kanye West’s controversial meeting with Donald Trump appeared first on NME.
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