Three Grammys and a new kidney for his 21-year-old son — that’s how Killer Mike is choosing to look at his trip to Los Angeles this past weekend.
Misdemeanor battery on a security guard at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards? Well, that’s what he was charged with after being led away from the Crypto.com Arena by L.A. police, but given that the 48-year-old rapper was released on zero-dollars bail, just how serious could the mayhem have been?
Nevertheless, after being released on his own recognizance at 8:37 p.m. PST — about four and a half hours after being detained — he is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 29 in Los Angeles. The battery charge carries a potential fine of up to $2,000, six months behind bars, or both, under California law.
Killer Mike, whose real name is Michael Santiago Render, was in no mood to talk about anything that put a damper on his Sunday evening. Joy came with the Monday morning phone call that informed him that his son, Mikael “Pony Boy” Stokes-Render, who had been waiting more than two years for a new kidney, was on his way to transplant surgery.
Killer Mike got on the first thing smoking back to Atlanta, a happy man.
“Man, ain’t nobody talking about all that mess,” the rapper told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I walked out with three Grammys. I took beautiful pictures, man. I got the job done and it was a beautiful time. I swept an entire category yesterday. That’s what I got to say about it.”
He was a little more expansive on “The Big Tigger Show” on Atlanta’s V-103 radio station, referring to the episode as “a speed bump” as he conversed with the show’s hosts, Big Tigger and Jazzy McBee. “We hit a speed bump, and then we headed back to the party,” he said.
And what a party it was because Killer Mike walked away with Grammys for Best Rap Album for Michael and also for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” which also featured André 3000, Future, and Eryn Allen Kane. But he had an inkling that more good news might be on the way, even as recently as a few weeks ago.
“I got a call a few weeks ago that he’s bumped up in the kidney transplant list, that my child [might] get an opportunity to live a full life as a young man,” Killer Mike told Graham Bensinger. “I just want my child to get that kidney and to be as free as a bird.”
At least for Monday and the next three weeks, it looks like both Killer Mike and Pony Boy might be free as birds.
