Killer Mike’s Scientists and Engineers: The Personal is Political

The phrase “the personal is political” is a widely used phrase in feminist literature meant to underscore how women’s personal experiences highlight larger patriarchal political oppression. Similarly, Killer Mike uses his personal experiences of life and religion to highlight oppressive white supremacist political structures. The record being titled Michael with a picture of him on the cover as a child with both devil horns and a halo announces the personal and spiritual tensions in this record.

The arrangement within this track is bold and restrained. Gone is the aggressive beats of his RTJ work with El – P and it’s replaced with a mix of sci – fi bleeps, jazz beats, a church choir and some more traditional hip hop snares and high hats. That’s not to say that the rest of this record is restrained, far from it. Much of the record is the lyrical and musical napalm you are used to from Killer Mike. Scientists and Engineers acts as a palate cleanser before you launch into the back half of the record. Killer Mike likes to push the boundaries both lyrically and musically, while this track is not too far out there, its restraint is the challenge.

There are a ton of guest appearances on this record. Killer Mike brings in: CeeLo Green, Young Thug, Future, 6LACK, Ty Dolla $ign, Eryn Allen Kane, El – P and many others. I mean, James Blake has a writing credit on this track. Scientists and Engineers kicks off with the biggest guest on the record, which is André 3000. It is great to hear from André 3000 on a track, because after he left music for acting, I thought that he may have left music behind. Let’s hope this guest appearance means we will see him pop up on more tracks and maybe put out an Outkast track. He also helps produce this track, which jumps back and forth between sci – fi and jazz. Killer Mike describes his life full of success and barriers, while an angelic choir sings in the background. This tension between his life and spirituality / religion runs throughout the record. This track has references to angels, devils, killing, racism and doing what he needs to do to succeed and survive.

Interestingly enough, Killer Mike got his first gig on an Outkast track, so it’s fitting that André 3000 is so front and centre on this track. Some people out there may not know of Killer Mike’s solo work and only know him from RTJ. If you are one of those people, Michael is a great jumping in point to get to know his solo stuff.

Listen to SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS