LOS ANGELES — An Atlanta rap legend made major headlines at the 66th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday with a slew of wins.
Killer Mike swept the rap nominations for his work, which was submitted for three Grammy awards for the genre's major categories.
He won the Grammy for Best Rap Album ("Michael"), Best Rap Song ("SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS") and Best Rap Performance for the same song, which features Future, André 3000 and Eryn Allen Kane.
After Killer Mike performed at halftime of the Atlanta Hawks' Martin Luther King Jr. Day game, he compared winning a Grammy to the likes of a sports championship in the city and spoke about what it would mean to him and Atlanta as a whole.
“I think bringing home a Grammy to Atlanta would be equivalent to the Braves bringing home another championship, the Hawks bringing home their first, and the Falcons bringing home their first. I am a product of this city, and I mean a product of this city in every way. I don’t care if you’re talking about Bob Horner, Chipper Jones, Steve Barkowski, Billy “White Shoes” Johnson. I’m a product of Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers. I’m a product of Deion Sanders. I’m a product of every sports player that’s poured into the youth."
He went on to say that his album isn't just his story but about any kid growing up in Atlanta.
"I’m a product of what Tina Turner did, giving free Braves tickets away for kids who read well. I’m a product of this city now… what I would like to do is return a championship through a Grammy to this city because this city has poured so much into me, and if you’ve heard the album “Michael,” you’re hearing more than my autobiography, you’re hearing the story of a boy in Atlanta.”
His dream he envisioned when he first started creating the album came to fruition.
“You’re not going to win a championship if you don’t see yourself winning a championship. Every day, we worked on this album. It was a 2 1/2 year process… every day of that, I convinced myself more and more that this was the best album in the year that it dropped, which was 50th year of Hip-Hop, and that it was Grammy worthy.”
The other nominees in the Best Rap Album category were Metro Boomin ("HEROES & VILLAINS"), Nas ("King’s Disease III"), Travis Scott ("Utopia") and Drake & 21 Savage ("Her Loss").
Best Rap Song also had songs from Doja Cat (“Attention”), Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice (“Barbie World” feat. Aqua) and Drake & 21 Savage (“Rich Flex”).
The other nominees in Best Rap Performance were Baby Keem (“The Hillbillies” feat. Kendrick Lamar), Black Thought (“Love Letter”), Coi Leray, and Drake & 21 Savage (“Rich Flex”).