Interview with Killer Mike on September 19, 2026

Interview with Killer Mike (Michael Santiago Render), Interviewed by Lashley / Zeriba Media, Saturday, September 19, 2026
at the Russell Family Enterprises Event for Georgia Residents to Celebrate 6th Annual Community Event: Russell Rocks the Block (RRTB)

Lashley: Talk to events like this and talk to your impression of what this represents to the community.

Killer Mike (Michael Santiago Render): Well, I’ll tell you what it represented to me. Black wealth wasn’t something I saw on the Cosby show; and what I mean by wealthy is a true Black middle class, a true Black upper class, not having to reinvest in the community, but they were in the community. The [Herman J.] Russells lived three streets behind me, my grandparents lived in a nine hundred square foot house on the front side of Collier Heights, on Collier Drive.
I went to better schools because the people that could afford to not live there stayed there. I went to better schools, I associated with kids that were smart. I went to a good school after Frederick Douglass and going to Morehouse. I kept building those relationships. And I am a product of the working class that matriculated up to the middle class; and I’ve helped others to do that by seeking and finding partners and reinvest in my community, hire people in my community that can now afford to live in that community and repeat the cycle. I think that’s what successful communities do.

Lashley: We’ve got an election coming up. Talk about the impact of the Black vote and talk about what you see happening on the Atlanta side.

Killer Mike (Michael Santiago Render): Well, the Black vote is obviously in terms of my state is the most valuable. We make up a third, I think about 33, [or] 35 percent of the state in terms of Democratic Party, overwhelmingly over 90 percent. We vote Democrat; and I know the Republicans are lusting to get 11 percent or better. So they’re doing every tactic. I didn’t know there was a Rick Jackson in the Black community until they ran for this office; but what I’ve known is that I’ve seen Keisha Lance Bottoms as a city council person. I’ve seen her in and out of office. I’ve seen her as mayor and I’ve seen her be successful; and that’s what I’d like to see for the state. I’ve not been mad at the [current] governor we’ve had, but we must admit to some mistakes that our former mayor is getting blamed for where he is. He kept our state open. So when people say where crime went up under her administration, her state was wide open. She couldn’t control that. People came in from out of state. They brought their b***s*** with them. Her and her police department helped fix that b***s***.
Then she went to D.C. and advocated for our part up there as a part of a national administration. She came home. She allowed our current mayor to run, win twice. Has been good for this city and the homeless population in terms of decreasing that; and I think she’s going to do good in terms of keeping data centers out and keeping hospitals in the state as governor. So I look forward to helping her become [Georgia Governor].

Lashley: Finally, talk about the journey of the city. We had the World Cup. We had some of these actions. Talk about where you see the city progressing to.

Killer Mike (Michael Santiago Render): In terms of an international city, Andy [Young] made sure we were an international city. That’s what we are between what he and Billy [Payne] did. We get the Olympics here. So I wasn’t surprised at the World Cups and more. What I am surprised about is the DNC isn’t here. The DNC strongest voting base happens to be Black men and women. So the fact that they have skipped over Atlanta twice now to me is grossly ignorant, grossly arrogant. But whatever it grossly is, they need to fix it fast.

Lashley: Thank you.