Killer Jewels

Killer Mike (aka Michael Render) is one of the smartest men in hip hop. The Atlanta MC has invested his earnings into a cool urban barbershop, Graffitis SWAG, the flagship of what he envisions as a community-based franchise. Now all he needs is to find the time to get his barber's licence.

In 2013 Render teamed with his MC/producer buddy El-P (Jaime Meline) to form Run The Jewels (RTJ), also the name of their eponymous album, featuring the single Get It. RTJ is just now coming out locally as the pair hit Laneway Festival. It'll be Render's first Australian trek; Meline, then promoting Cancer 4 Cure, rocked Laneway last summer. Render's heard good things from Meline and homies like OutKast's Big Boi. “They've all told me how beautiful and wondrous it was and how it was actually just life-changing, the amount of beauty in the country – so I can't wait to see it.”

Render is down with Atlanta's Dungeon Family alongside OutKast – he befriended Big Boi in college. In fact, the MC debuted on OutKast's classic Stankonia of 2000, becoming a frequent collaborator. He himself put out the album Monster in 2003, with Big Boi rapping on its crossover hit ADIDAS. However, Render, an occasional voice actor, struggled to identify his niche – until lately. At one stage he was part of Big Boi's Purple Ribbon, then TI's Grand Hustle, before going indie.

Render worked with Meline on his acclaimed 2012 LP RAP (Rebellious African People) Music. They bonded and so RTJ ensued. That the duo enjoy a rapport is fascinating since they each hail from not only different cities, but also different hip hop scenes, Meline being a Brooklynite backpack-type and Render “street”. But Render stresses their common ground. The combo, both thirty-somethings, “grew up in the same era of hip hop”. As such, they share “the same values” when it comes to the music. Beyond that? “I don't know totally why we click so well,” Render ponders. “Then again, I can't tell you all the reasons I love my wife more than any other woman I've ever known. But I know when a good relationship works, it works – and El and I have an amazing musical relationship.”

In 2014 hip hop is no longer embroiled in regional politics. The south has never been as influential, with even Harlem's A$AP Rocky heavily indebted to it. Render digs that. “I just think that hip hop is in a good place because now you have so many different styles and so many different places and so many different people. Hip hop is great. I think when hip hop doesn't have as many styles as that, that's when I worry.”

Back home, Render is active as an entrepreneur (and advocate for small black business) as well as an MC. In 2011 he opened a barbershop, buying a run-down outlet and renaming it Graffitis SWAG, which he operates with his talented wife, Shana. (Render loves his acronyms: the SWAG stands for “shave, wash and groom”.) The barbershop has an important – and symbolic – place in African-American culture. It's where black men talk life and politics, and connect. Render lauds all this, yet he wanted to not rehabilitate the barbershop, but contemporise it. “I just am happy to be in a position to provide jobs for my community, to have a service that my community needs and uses on a regular basis,” he says. There's also something inherently egalitarian about a barbershop. Big Boi is a Graffitis SWAG client, but anyone can walk in. “If people only have 20 bucks as a luxury, you'll spend it on looking nice,” Render says. “I don't have $200,000 to buy a Ferrari – I don't know if I ever will – but I know I have 15 or 20 bucks to get the best haircut I can and my wife to look at me like the young Barry White.”

Render himself is working towards acquiring his barber's license – he must clock up 3,000 hours – tricky when simultaneously pursuing an international hip hop career. Render is still apprenticing, which means sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, and watching and learning. On his return from Australia, he'll begin cutting hair.

Not that Render is abandoning music. He and Meline are on a creative roll. “RTJ 2 is coming this year – we are working on it right now,” he says. And he may yet be involved in the OutKast reunion, with the legends touring. “Let me say I absolutely would love to be – I can't imagine me not popping up somewhere! Where that is, I don't know. But I'm as ecstatic and excited about OutKast performing again for young people so I can take my kids to see this show and my Mom can see it, as everyone else.”