Over the years, Killer Mike has become just as well known for his activism and entrepreneurship as he has for his rapping. Last night, he appeared on TNT’s The Arena to share some of his hard-won wisdom with hosts Cari Champion and Kyle Korver and wound up sharing a powerful semi-sermon (Cari’s words) on financial literacy and economic empowerment — concepts that can be just as impactful for athletes as they can for musicians, considering both industries can make young Black people overnight millionaires.
After insisting that Champion just call him “Michael” rather than Killer Mike, the rapper explained how there’s a much smaller chance for rappers to get a lot of money and how his grounded experience working at Autozone for $200 taught him “the power of a dollar” — even though he did make some youthful mistakes along the way. Mostly, though, he credits his wife for having a plan for the two to be able to retire at 50 years old. “We should be teaching financial literacy in high school,” he asserts. “I haven’t spoken a lick of French since I graduated, although being in Paris is fun. I definitely had to learn to use my dollar. I think if we’re teaching 14, 15, 16-year-olds that, we’ll be doing better.”
Mike also discusses his show Trigger Warning on Netflix and his Greenwood Bank initiatives, as well as running down his family history.
Watch Killer Mike’s financial sermon above.
