Reviewed by JD Piche, RCRs Producer and Pop Culture expert,
follow him on Twitter at @misadventurer
In the vein of Morgan Spurlock’s self-immersion documentaries, rap god and activist, Killer Mike, of Run The Jewels fame, begins his 6 episode Netflix series, “Trigger Warning with Killer Mike” by living 100% Black, and only spending money in Black-owned businesses for three days. The timely conversation that unintended ties into the critical darling film, Green Book, referring to a bygone tome which was the Michelin Travel Guide for Black Owned businesses during segregation. Mike, for three days, must only spend money in the Black community, in a concerted effort to show how reliant communities of color are to faceless souls corporations. Each episode Mike finds himself tackling various social injustices; like rejecting the idea of a White Jesus, putting a legitimate business face on the Crips, exposing senior citizens to Rap, creating a music group that reaches beyond our insulated tribal mentalities, using pornography to teach trades, and finally starting a new nation.
The first episode is easily the strongest in the series, and the only episode to feature Mike’s musical cohort, El-P, as Mike’s “Only buying Black” challenge leads up to a Run The Jewels concert. Mike follows a rather strict guideline that the products and services he patronizes must come with a black provenance. He can’t drive a car, as there are no automakers which are black-owned, he begins with a community Bicycle exchange providing wheels to members of the community for free in exchange for volunteering, and winds up catching a ride from Atlanta to Athens via a Black-owned tour bus company. Mike can’t use his iPhone so he resorts to using a Figger Phone, built by Freddie Figger. Mike learns about WeBuyBlack.com, a modern-day green book, featuring black-owned sundries and more. After struggling to find any black-owned and sourced restaurants, Mike goes hungry, and a lack of black-owned hotels finds him sleeping on a park bench. His efforts to keep money in the Black community is rather limited, by the lack of options. By the end of the episode when his 72-hour social experiment is up, he calls upon his audience to make Fridays #BlackFridays, in an effort to have his (mostly white) audience expand their brand horizons.
In another episode, which would be considered the most controversial, Mike asks a group of young children what they want to be when they have grown up, after giving one rather precocious ginger-haired boy his first lesson in what white privilege is, Mike tells the children to not dream so big as to think they could be president or astronauts that also cure cancer, that the world needs more tradespeople than dreamers. Then hiring an adult film production company to make a “Something for everyone” porno with not-subliminal at all, lessons in various trades like plumbing and electrical wiring, which is presented to a research group which is quizzed before and after watching the video. The results may shock you.
While the show is eye-opening, it treads familiar ground to Penn & Teller’s “Bullsh!t” the magician duo’s 2003-2010 Showtime series where they’d tackle touchy topics on a weekly basis, as well as some of Last Week Tonight’s woke antics, like starting a church, however, Killer Mike isn’t looking for a way to dodge his taxes, with the Church of Sleep, he offers up a new messianic figure, in the silent savior called “Sleep.” In many ways, Trigger Warning is Mike’s poetry in motion as his rap lyrics drive his motivations. He explains the lyrics of “Lie, Cheat, Steal” to a senior center after performing a-cappella with a barbershop quartet.
Consider “Trigger Warning with Killer Mike” required viewing for everyone no matter what their political leaning, as the show’s greatest theme is how inclusion and conversation are the best weapons to division and derision.
TV Show Grade: A
About “Trigger Warning with Killer Mike”
With no due respect, Trigger Warning with Killer Mike launches January 18 on Netflix, taking on the economy, gang culture, religion, education, and more.
“‘Trigger Warning’ is about examining cultural taboos and giving viewers the space to examine the ‘what ifs’ and ‘why nots’ that limit how some people move and operate in the world,” said Michael Render, pka Killer Mike.
“In six episodes, we explore the human condition using nontraditional approaches. Not everyone will agree with my methods (and some of what we’re putting out is fucking crazy), but this show is about embracing your freedom to challenge societal expectations and conformity. This show is if an anarchist determined the status quo.”
Watch Trigger Warning with Killer Mike on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/8014442
#Netflix #TriggerWarningwithKillerMike #KillerMike
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