Killer Mike - The rapper turned speech maker
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2020
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Riots and protests have broken out in cities across the USA following the death of George Floyd after his arrest by white police officers in Minneapolis. But one black American’s impassioned plea for calm has gone viral in the midst of the violence. Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike made an impromptu speech calling on his fellow citizens not to burn their city but to organise and mobilise and to use their votes to bring about change. Mark Coles has been speaking to people who know Killer Mike well, and finding out more about his past, his music and his life in Atlanta.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm mad as hell. I woke up wanting to see the world burned down. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm mad as hell. I woke up wanting to see the world burn down yesterday, but I'm tired of seeing |
| 0:16.4 | black men die. America hasn't seen civil unrest like this for half a century or more, not since the late 60s and the assassination |
| 0:26.3 | of Dr Martin Luther King. |
| 0:28.4 | He casually put his knee on a human being's neck for nine minutes as he died like a zebra in the clutch of a |
| 0:38.7 | lion's jaw and we watch it like murder porn over and over again. |
| 0:44.7 | So that's why children are burning to the ground. Hello, I'm Mark Coles on the BBC World Service and you're listening to Killer Mike, the rapper |
| 1:01.2 | Turned speechmaker. |
| 1:03.0 | Like many people all over the planet, |
| 1:05.0 | I've watched aghast as events have unfurled in the US. |
| 1:08.0 | The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, |
| 1:12.0 | allegedly asphyxiated by a white police officer |
| 1:15.6 | sparking violent protests in cities all over America. |
| 1:19.2 | Black White Matter. |
| 1:21.9 | Black White Matter! |
| 1:23.0 | Police stations have been said on fire. |
| 1:26.0 | Shops looted tear gas fired. |
| 1:28.0 | George Boy! |
| 1:31.0 | George Boy! George Boy! |
| 1:32.0 | George Boy! George's life! life! |
| 1:34.0 | Curfews have been imposed across the country. |
| 1:38.0 | Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the military. |
... |
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