Killer Mike Addresses Grammy Arrest in New Single “Humble Me”

Fresh off of winning Album of the Year at the 2024 BET Awards, Killer Mike has broken his silence following his Grammy arrest with his new single, “Humble Me,” which serves as the first teaser for an upcoming project billed as an epilogue to his latest album, Michael.

“Humble Me” arrives on the same night that Mike attended the BET Awards at the Peacock Theater, not far from where he was arrested earlier in the year. At the Grammys in February, Mike won in the three major rap categories and was led away in handcuffs shortly thereafter after his acceptance speech. “I won a Grammy for spitting out my grammar / I did it for Atlanta, homie / Picked up like a janitor, I went to hell, homie,” he raps in “Humble Me.” “The devil does you good when you do it / The devil will destroy you, Satan behind me, I walked out the door, head up and handcuffs in pride.”

Mike was charged with misdemeanor battery, and a few days after his arrest, he explained that he had gotten into an argument with a security guard. He recalls his time in prison on “Humble Me”: “I had to calm my mind, I prayed and prayed and prayed / Liars lied, / I just kept believing / The devil dressed me up on that whipping post / The Lord wasn’t laying there with me / So I went to sleep as freely as I could, and the next day my son got a kidney.”

“I was in the studio the very next day,” Mike says in a statement. “I’m inspired as always and at this point I’m just following the music. All of my characters have been shackled and mistreated in some way. I just thanked God in that moment when I was Daniel in the lion’s den. I walked out of the prison in the pouring rain to my wife waiting for me, smoked a joint, celebrated a bit, and then woke up to the news that my son had a 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 “Humble Me” video. “I believe that humility and praise gave me God’s grace in the face of this trial, and I also believe that my son receiving a kidney was a blessing from God,” says Mike.

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