Killer Mike (5:31)
And I've seen him say it post that. I. I talked to Lucci and heard Lucci say, man, I don't have no problems, Thug. I don't want no issue. I'm just trying to make money, take care of my family. I think at the core, we all want the same things, but our pride and ego is a lot of times fuel is added to a fire cause of the people around us because of beefs and stuff we don't have. My hope for Thug and Lucci. My hope for all these young men that are coming up in Atlanta is for them to take time to be mentored by the black men and women that over the last 60 years have shaped and formed that community. Because what you don't understand is a lot of time our behavior is an embarrassment to them, and it loses them political equity and real equity and money. Atlanta is Atlanta, and it's a special place. I feel like Atlanta should be treated by black people like Mecca is to Muslims, right? You have economic opportunity thanks to Maynard Jackson. You have economic opportunity on 10 and international because of people like Andy Young. You have economic opportunity because of Shirley Franklin, Bill Campbell, Keisha Lansb, Kasim Reed, Mayor Dickens. You have economic opportunity, your reputation and the reputation you bring that city could possibly ruin it. If you're too thuggish, you're too ruggish, you're too outlandish, you're too bare bones, minimum bullshit, especially violence. Violence is not good for money. Violence is not good for Bringing new hotels for bringing new tours, bringing new conferences, bringing super bowl, FIFA, Major League Baseball is not good. So when we as the entertainment and athlete class, we have two choices. We can take low road and do the typical bullshit and be the top of the street. And we all know where that ends up. Jail or early funeral. Or we could be the youngest and the mentees of the business class and the social class and say, hey, this is how we can make this city better. We can take our cues from the people on the streets organizing. We can take our cues from the people who are in those big suites organizing, making it work. Like, Andy built a dome with no public money. He was a pension plan out of California, so he was able to build our city and not have to overtax you out, tax you. Kesha Lance Bottoms put a furlough on anybody building that would take taxes up on legacy residents. These people have made the right investments. So we need to consult with the Kesha Lansbaums and Michael Thurman. We need to say, what can we do to be better? Because if we don't, we're going to lose a city for our people that generates so much money and so much economic opportunity. And we don't understand that because we used nobody paying us attention. We used nobody caring about us. We think that because public school teachers didn't pay attention to us like we want to, nobody else is, well, the students paying attention to you. And we owe those students an opportunity. So I would say in Atlanta, keep rapping, keep making money, keep slamming basketballs, keep scoring touchdowns, keep hitting home runs, but keep your ass in front of a YouTube with John Hope Bryant. Keep your ass in front of when Stokely Carmichael or Kwame and Toure spoke at uga, Go look at those old tapes and you will understand we have a greater responsibility than just the flash of right now. We have a greater responsibility than just the winning of right now. Our responsibility should be to plant a tree that we'll never get to enjoy the shade of that these two, three, four generations down will get an opportunity to say, like I can say about Alonzo Hernande, who started the Atlanta Life Insurance Company because he started a barbershop. He had a barbershop that serviced all white men, but it was all black barbers. He heard about the insurance game, life insurance game, which you just learned about now. He heard about that. Start selling black people life insurance. Magic Johnson recently acquired that company. When they asked Magic Johnson, why did you acquire the Atlanta Life Insurance Company? He said, I saw this Interview with Killer Mike. And that's the unique thing about you as an Atlanta. As an Atlanta, you get to live your history. Your black history don't just happen in February. Your black history is happening every day. And your black ass has a responsibility. And part of that responsibility is to rise above the streets. You got an opportunity to rise above the streets and become somebody. Because you have kids that are coming after you, that look up to you, that admire you. And they need to know that opportunity is there. Atlanta ain't been no Champion City. Cause we got no funky ass Reality show programs of some been singing and dancing since 1990. This is 124 years of excellence. You're looking at Book T. Washington. W.E.B. du Bois had the Atlanta Conferences here in 1904, 1905. Alonzo Hernandez had been there since 1900. So you have a social responsibility. John Wesley Dobbs was the mayor of black Atlanta before his grandson became the mayor of all Atlanta. We have a responsibility. We have that responsibility in Savannah. We have that responsibility in Macon. We have that responsibility in Athens, Augusta and Columbus, too. And if we don't hold true to our responsibility, is nobody fault. Like Mr. John told me down the street from my barbershop on Edgewood Avenue, he said, hey, they gonna come along and tell you that white folks bought this neighborhood up and gentrified and took it for us. And that's a goddamn lie. He said, the kids thought they were better than the stores their parents owned and bought. And they sold it and they sold it for too cheap. So I'm telling my athletes and my rappers out there, we have a responsibility. And our responsibility is to learn to do good business and become businessmen and women.
