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Killer Mike Talks to Noisey About Running for Office: "The Hope of the Public Is Lost Because They Don’t Turn Out"

We called the rapper up to get the scoop on his political campaign.

On Monday, Killer Mike posted to Instagram asking residents to vote for him in a write-in for the Georgia state representative. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, considering Mike's politics are well-documented and he's never been shy about speaking out for his beliefs. (Back in November, he told me the story of the explosive speech he gave after the Mike Brown ruling in Ferguson.) Late Monday evening, Mike posted again to Instagram informing the world that he unfortunately cannot run be elected as a write-in vote because of the way the voting laws in Georgia work. With hopes of getting a clearer sense of the picture, we called up Mike.

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Continued below.

So what’s going on with this political run? You’re running?
Well actually, it can’t happen because in Georgia, I have to register as a write-in. It’s what I found out. But I had every intention of it happening, and if it would’ve happened I would’ve stepped up. And if it did, I would’ve done the job.

But more importantly—and the reason why I did it besides the fact that I think politicians need to understand that people from the regular constituencies are willing to run against tem—I wanted to make people aware that the election was even happening. The guy Tyrone Brooks, who used to hold the seat, got involved with some sticky business with donations and charities and that type of thing, so the seat is wide open. There are a few decent candidates that people should look into and they should get out and vote. A lot of times elections are lost and the hope of the public is lost because they don’t turn out. So if I, as a celebrity, can get people to pay attention to the fact that there is a vote going on period, then my job is done.

But I do plan on running for political office one day. The next election I’m probably going to go register as a write-in. If it would’ve worked, I definitely would’ve been going to Washington to represent the people of Georgia.

Photo courtesy of Killer Mike's Instagram

Yeah, your average person probably didn’t know about the election.
Yeah they didn’t. I only knew because I’m a nerd. [laughs.] I do plan on running though. I absolutely am. I’m just glad that my willingness to run today—even though I was doing it to get people to get out and vote and encourage people to get more politically involved and passionate enough to run for office.

Let's hope it happens. Thanks for your time, Mike.
No problem. Now I'm off to get some ice cream with my wife.

Eric Sundermann is the Managing Editor of Noisey. Follow him on Twitter.