Killer Mike takes gift of gab to new WAOK talk show
That’s right, AM radio. And it’s not a music show, it’s a talk show.
- Joeff Davis
- Mike Render aka Killer Mike
Killer Mike is one articulate mutha. Now usually that would be a serious backhanded compliment for a black man, but being that his gift of gab has earned him a prime-time slot in talk-radio land, consider this a rare exception.
You read right. Rapper/activist/entrepreneur Mike Render is the newest talking head in town since starting his own radio talk show this week on 1380 WAOK-AM, with co-host Maurice Garland. (Both of them won CL Best of Atlanta honors last year.) The show, which airs weekdays 7 p.m.-10 p.m., features the same kind of provocative, politically fueled conversation on local and national issues for which Killer Mike is known. Last night, he and Garland fielded calls on issues ranging from the NRA’s push to arm teachers in classrooms (Mike’s a proud, card-carrying member of the NRA) to the disconnect between the old guard of black leadership and the generation he represents. Like any good talk-radio host, he’s already attracting his own diverse cast of call-in characters.
A teacher who called to voice her opinion on arming teachers and the potential effect it could have on classroom discipline admitted to being a stripper for 12 years before she segued into her current profession.
“You’d never have a problem out of my son,” Mike responded with an on-air wink.
Another caller in her 50s, who admitted she isn’t a huge rap fan, said she’d boosted her cool points by talking up his show around younger people. She also urged more regular WAOK listeners (i.e. the older demographic) to call in and chop it up with Mike.
On a side note, Mike explained during last night’s that he’d sought out a talk slot on AM radio since he couldn’t get any play on FM radio. His album R.A.P. Music (produced by El-P) was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of any genre in 2012, but because it wasn’t released on a major label with a hefty marketing/promotions budget commercial radio has ignored it.
To hear the man himself “articulate” that point, check out this video clip (below the jump) of him on the Combat Jack show last month: