It’s been one hell of a year for Killer Mike. For the past decade, Killer Mike has been one half of the duo Run The Jewels alongside producer/emcee El-P, releasing four critically acclaimed albums with the group between 2013 and 2020, and setting off mosh pits at concerts of all sizes around the world. In 2023 he released his first solo album in eleven years, Michael, which saw him sweep all of the rap categories at the 2024 Grammy Awards, taking home three trophies. Just last week he won Album Of The Year at The B.E.T. Awards, and now he’s embarked on a world tour named after track one off of the album, The Down By Law Tour. Joined by his group of backup singers, The Mighty Midnight Revival, Killer Mike would kick off the tour by hitting a few Canadian cities, including this show in Toronto, before continuing across the U.S. and Europe.
For any day-one Killer Mike fans, it’s a full-circle moment seeing the success he’s achieved with his latest album. He of course entered the game in the early 2000s featuring on Grammy award-winning songs and albums by OutKast, and after a long career navigating the underground both as a solo artist and as part of a few groups, he’s now returned to that Grammy award-winning level of success with the spotlight all to himself. In recent years, Toronto fans may have seen Killer Mike sell out The Danforth Music Hall multiple times when he toured with Run The Jewels, and now it seems fitting that he’s back at this same venue, performing solo material for the first time in over a decade.
It was an early show on a Sunday night as Run The Jewels’ and Killer Mike’s tour DJ, DJ Trackstar, set the tone by spinning an ’80s Funk, Soul and RnB setlist. A big part of what makes Michael such an acclaimed album is the autobiographical aspects of it where you really get to know Mike as a person, and so for the first hour, Mike had DJ Trackstar sonically take us to his childhood, setting off 1982 Atlanta basement party vibes with hits by Earth, Wind & Fire, Sade and others. After vibing out with Trackstar, pretty soon the five singers making up The Mighty Midnight Revival would make their way across the stage, getting the crowd to join in as they clapped to the beat, and Mike himself would join them to huge applause.
Killer Mike and The Mighty Midnight Revival had the building energized from the beginning as they began to perform the album in track listing order, Mike triumphantly spitting his verse to “Down By Law” and The Mighty Midnight Revival effectively covering CeeLo Green’s vocals on the hook. The Mighty Midnight Revival would especially shine on the Gospel-influenced “Shed Tears,” which Mike dedicated to men’s mental health before nailing his emotional verses about struggling to find inner peace. He’d also give a shoutout to Young Thug, condemning the use of rap lyrics as legal evidence in his court case before performing their upbeat collab, “Run,” letting Dave Chappelle’s motivational speech at the start of the song play out before grooving to his verse.
Mike would pause the album for a minute to acknowledge the group joining him on stage, giving DJ Trackstar a shoutout and stepping aside so that each member of The Mighty Midnight Revival could introduce themselves by singing their names, some plugging their name into soulful covers like Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and the Cheers theme song. Now being fully acquainted with the talent on stage, they’d continue the album, being perfectly in sync for “NRich” and Mike turning the crowd all the way up for “Talk’n That Shit!,” that southern bounce getting everyone moving.
While Killer Mike has evolved into a more political emcee over the years, even becoming a political activist outside of music, he’s struck a chord with Michael by finding a way to connect political issues to his own personal life throughout the album. He would introduce the next song by talking about his own teenage years, explicitly stating that it’s a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion (with the crowd cheering on his message) before performing a song about his own experience of getting a girl pregnant as a teen and having to make that tough decision with “Slummer.” Having The Mighty Midnight Revival to back him made the song extra emotional, with the crowd cheering him on for the acapella verse at the end. He’d humbly thank the crowd, taking a moment to express his thankfulness for his Grammy Awards success before getting into the single that won him the Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance awards, “Scientists & Engineers.”
Appropriately letting the standout Andre 3000 verse play out, along with Future’s guest vocals, Mike grooved out behind the mic stand and got the crowd joining in as the song built up to reach his rapid-fire verse. With Mike nailing his “Scientists & Engineers” verse and getting the crowd to sing along with The Mighty Midnight Revival on the hook, everyone was hyped as he followed up with the certified head-nodder, “Two Days.” Now just over halfway through the album, Mike would begin to deviate a bit and perform a few throwbacks to switch things up.
Reminiscing on his early days of touring through Toronto and playing 200-capacity rooms, Mike would remind us that his career goes way back to “the Kardinal Offishall days” of Toronto’s music scene before taking us back to 2005 with his one-hit-wonder with the group Purple Ribbon All Stars, “Kryptonite (I’m On It).” Despite his time with Purple Ribbon All Stars being short-lived, the single still gets crowds turnt up to this day, as Toronto got all the way hyped for the throwback, rapping along to Big Boi and Rock-D’s hook. With Big Boi and OutKast on the mind after “Kryptonite,” Mike would then pull out another rare banger with his feature on Big Boi’s 2017 single “Kill Jill,” being sure to also cover Rock-D’s vocals on the outro. Closing out the throwback segment would be another one-hit-wonder with Mike’s feature on the 2003 Bone Crusher single “Never Scared,” which may have been the most energetic song of the evening with the way the crowd turned up for it!
Mike would next return to the Michael album, mellowing out the crowd and giving a shoutout to the weed smokers in the building before getting into “Spaceship Views.” He’d then show some southern hospitality by naming a few spots we could visit in his hometown, Adamsville, before telling us how to get there from the Atlanta airport by introducing his song “Exit 9.” From here on out, Mike would take breaks between songs to talk to the crowd and get us in the right frame of mind to take in his next song, as some of the album’s heavier songs were coming next. Before continuing the album though, he’d talk about the U.S.A.’s current political climate before performing a 2012 throwback about one of his least favourite Presidents in the country’s history, “Reagan,” with the beat flipping to Goodie Mob’s “Cell Therapy” just as he rapped the words “who the fuck is that / staring in my window?,” making for a clever nod to the Dungeon Family classic.
With political and sociological issues on the mind, Mike would continue to show us how he was able to tie these topics to his personal life on the Michael album. He’d take a moment to talk about going from being a former drug dealer to learning to live with and love family members struggling with addiction before performing “Something For Junkies.” The sole male singer in The Mighty Midnight Revival, Troy Durden, would especially stand out on this song as he covered the emotional Fabo vocals on the hook and outro. Singer Adonica Nunn would get to stand out next as things got even deeper and more emotional with the song “Motherless,” as she joined Mike at the front of the stage and nailed a solo as the song reached its crescendo. Mike introduced the song by dedicating it to both his late mother and grandmother, explaining some of the lyrics by talking about how his grandmother helped raise him after his mother gave birth at 16, and dealing with the loss that the song is about.
“My mama dead, her mama dead,
Her mama died in my arms, my ma said that wasn’t fair”
After that heavy moment, Killer Mike moved things along to a brighter mood, taking moment to acknowledge his success with Run The Jewels. For any fans wondering where El-P has been this whole time, Mike would tell us: “he’s on a UFO making beats!!” This of course led into the RTJ collab on the Michael album, “Don’t Let The Devil,” the upbeat vibes picking the energy up again and The Mighty Midnight Revival adding energy by singing the vocal sample in the beat. Keeping things hype, Mike would give a shoutout to the WWE, which was in town this same weekend for their Money In The Bank event, and sprinkled in one last throwback with 2011’s “Ric Flair” before completing the Michael album with the soulful closer “High & Holy.” Speaking on the spiritual connection he felt with the crowd throughout the evening, Killer Mike got everyone singing and lighting up their cell phones as The Mighty Midnight Revival sang out a thank-you song to close out the show.
As someone who has the Run The Jewels logo tatted on their arm, this felt like a triumphant moment seeing Killer Mike come full circle and celebrate the success of his latest solo album. Toronto fans especially have gotten to witness Mike and RTJ go from performing at The Hoxton all the way up to Scotiabank Arena over the years, and it all culminated in arguably Mike’s most powerful album yet. Killer Mike performed the entire Michael album from front to back, with a handful of throwbacks sprinkled in, and The Mighty Midnight Revival added another layer of depth to the songs, with their vocals ranging from covering adlibs and samples within the beat to taking on the full spotlight at times. The connection they made with the fans was deep, as most of us had our phones tucked away and were clapping along to the beats throughout the night. While I personally wanted to see Mike do a few more joints off of 2012’s R.A.P. Music, him and the band rocked the stage for a solid hour and a half and made sure to fully celebrate the album that’s getting all the award show recognition in 2024.
The Down By Law Tour continues in Halifax and Winnipeg before heading to the U.S.A. and Europe, dates and tickets can be found here!
Check out this playlist of Run The Jewels concert videos from all the times I’ve seen them over the years.
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