Killer Mike talks about the arrest at the Grammys in his new single “Humble Me”

Courtesy of Andrew Clifton

Shortly after winning Album of the Year at the 2024 BET Awards, Killer Mike broke his silence about his arrest at the Grammy Awards with his new single “Humble Me,” which serves as the first taste of an upcoming project described as an epilogue to his latest album, “Michael.”

“Humble Me” comes out the same night Mike attended the BET Awards at the Peacock Theater, near where he was arrested earlier this year. At the Grammys, held in February, Mike won in three major rap categories and was led away in handcuffs shortly afterward after an acceptance speech. “I won at the Grammys because I spit out my grammar / Did that for Atlanta, dude / Got swept up like a janitor and sent to jail, dude,” he raps on “Humble Me.” “The devil serves you right if you do / The devil will ruin you, behind me Satan, I walked out the door, head held high and handcuffed with pride.”

Mike was charged with assault and stated a few days after his arrest that he got into an altercation with a guard. In “Humble Me,” he reflects on his time in prison: “I had to calm my mind, I prayed and prayed and prayed / The liars lied their lies / I just kept my faith / The devil put me in that pillory / The Lord wasn’t laying there with me / So I went to sleep as free as I could and the next day my son got a kidney.”

“I was in the studio the very next day,” Mike said in a statement. “I’m as inspired as ever and just follow the music now. All my heroes have been tied up and abused in one way or another. I just thanked God when I was Daniel in the lion’s den. I came out of prison in the pouring rain and my wife was waiting for me, lit a joint, celebrated a little and then woke up and got the news about my son’s kidney.”

Mike is referring to his son Pony Boy, who received a kidney transplant the day after the Grammys and appears with his father at the end of the video for “Humble Me.” “I believe that humility and worship granted me God’s grace in the face of this trial, and I believe it was a blessing from God that my son received his kidney,” Mike says.

At the Grammys, Mike won in all three categories he was nominated in, including Best Rap Album for “Michael” and Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for “Scientists & Engineers” featuring André 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane. He is currently on his international Down By Law tour, supported by his choir Mighty Midnight Revival.