Run the Jewels rapper Killer Mike joins the choir ahead of First Ave gig

He was supposed to perform in arenas this year with his group Run the Jewels as the opening act for rap-metal thrashers Rage Against the Machine. Instead, Killer Mike is touring clubs with (checks notes) … a gospel choir?

"I really had to go in a different mode," said the Atlanta rap hero, who's due in town Monday at First Avenue on his High & Holy Tour.

"I had to tell myself this is not a rap concert. I really had to think of it as more of a revival, and give fans something closer to a spiritual experience."

One of the most distinctive and respected voices in modern hip-hop, the real-life Michael Render used the downtime from the COVID-19 pandemic — and then the Rage tour's subsequent delays/cancellations — to complete his first solo album since the start of Run the Jewels a decade ago.

Simply titled "Michael," the new record riffs on the 48-year-old rapper's upbringing in Atlanta's Black-populated west side and its Baptist and Pentecostal churches. Hence the injection of gospel music in such songs as "Down by Law," featuring fellow ATL music vet CeeLo Green.

"Michael" also revisits the trials and temptations of his youth, including consequential forays into drugs and sex. Hence the album cover featuring a class photo from when Render was 9 with a halo and devil horns drawn over his broad smile.

"People hadn't really met Michael Render," the rapper explained earlier this week on a Zoom video call from a tour stop in Norfolk, Va.

"They knew Killer Mike, who was essentially this superhero character invented by a 9-year-old boy, this badass superhero rapper with swagger. They never had the chance to meet that young boy and the man he became, the husband, the father."

They also get to meet a lot of Render's high-profile friends on the album. It boasts guest appearances by André 3000, Young Thug, Future, his Run the Jewels bandmate El-P and Dave Chappelle.

Chappelle's spoken montage in the song "Run" is about running for election, something the comedian urged him to do following the 2020 presidential election — in which Render famously supported Sen. Bernie Sanders, and later became an unlikely go-to talking head on political talk shows. That turned into Render's interview series for Netflix, "Trigger Warning with Killer Mike."

Excited to be playing First Ave again — "It's fun getting back to a lot of these smaller rooms Run the Jewels played on our way up," he said — Render had a lot more to say about his new album, as well as his old group. RTJ is finally hitting the road again in a limited capacity this fall marking its debut LP's 10^th anniversary with four-night stands in four cities (including Chicago, Sept. 27-30).

Here are edited highlights from the interview:

On how the seed for the "Michael" album was first planted more than six years ago: "It started with 'Down by Law,' the first track on the record. Cory Mo [its producer] played the beat for me, and I told him to save it for me. It had a Curtis Mayfield sample in it, and I'm a big Curtis fan. So I knew there was something special about it, but I didn't know what to do with it. That was in the last year of Obama's presidency, that's how long ago it was.

"Over the years, I had thoughts and feelings I needed to get out, and what I realized those thoughts, feelings and stories were that of a young man who grew up in an entirely Black neighborhood in this Black-led city, and I had a unique story because of that. That's what eventually came out."

On taking a more personal and emotional tone in his music at age 48: "With hip-hop now at 50 years old and me at 48, that's where we're at. For the first 25 years, we spent all that time being as dope and badass as we could. Where we are now, I think it's important and accepted to tell the stories from perspectives that aren't ego- or insecurity-based, but are honest and just tell who we really are. These are my trials, my tribulations, my triumphs on this record."

On the ultra-personal track "Slummer," about his experience with abortion as a teenager: "It's just a true story I've been carrying around in my heart since it happened, when I was 17 years old. At that time I was deeply in teenage love with a girl I still know and respect today. Lots of people have encountered this situation, but no one talks about it. No one says, 'It's OK to forgive yourself.' No one says, 'Poverty can be so crushing that it can ruin what you think is love.'"

On the similarly autobiographical "Two Days," about friends convicted for selling marijuana: "I have homies who did 10- to 20-year sentences for selling it who are just getting to know their children because they were sent to prison. They should be the ones given the first licenses when it's legalized in states like yours, because they're the ones who created the market for it."

On whether he'll get mixed up again in the presidential election: "My guy [Sanders] is not running, so there's no reason for me to get involved. What I am going to stay involved in are local politics more. I'm very proud to have helped [U.S. senators] Ossoff and Warnock get into office in Georgia. Now, I'm a part of the Georgia Public Defenders Council program helping prisoners."

On whether or not he may run for office himself: "Dave [Chappelle] was trying to convince me to run for governor. I told him, 'I go to strip clubs. I smoke marijuana. I don't stand a chance.' He said, 'People don't care. They love you because you're honest.'

"My grandmother was a leader in her community on the west side of Atlanta. She taught me, 'When you're called to do something, just do the job and do it to completion.' I'll just keep doing what Betty told me to do."

On marking Run the Jewels' 10^th anniversary: "Who would've thought at 35 years old you'd find your stroke, especially in hip-hop? Who'd have thought at that age I could've helped start what's arguably the greatest rap group of the day. I'm very proud to be a part of it."

With: Trackstar the DJ, Dwynell Roland.

When: 8 p.m. Mon.

Where: First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls.

Tickets: $35, axs.com.