Vevo announces Killer Mike as the next artist in their ctrl series with a performance of “Motherless” off his album MICHAEL.

If the pen is greater than the sword, then Killer Mike wields a two-sided machete that slashes fakes and phonies who stand in the way of truth.

Since the days he hit the hip-hop airwaves with Outkast on the inspirational “The Whole World,” the Atlanta native has morphed into one of rap’s great professors, spitting rhymes that address life’s most complex problems.

Run the Jewels, his massively popular project with NYC’s El-P, is a rare zone where dictionary words such as “pugilistic” and “soliloquize” are used to deftly lambast politicians, the 1% and, of course, bad rappers.

GRAMMY nominations, critical acclaim, and festival headlining spots have all come in tow. Released in 2020, ‘RTJ4’ addressed the troubled political landscape that erupted that year; “Walking In The Snow,” for instance, is a thorough commentary on police brutality and class warfare, wherein Mike name drops Chomsky and Bukowski while railing into America’s broken educational system.

His first solo album in more than a decade, 2023’s ‘Michael’ doubles down on sociopolitical themes, with musical and lyrical nods to the abolitionist and civil rights movements. But it also mixes in new ingredients, namely spiritualism and deeply personal perspectives.

“Motherless” is all about the hole that’s left behind by the passing of loved ones. The thing about life that any wise person will come to understand is that even a dude like Mike doesn’t have all the answers.