Killer Mike Signs With T.I.’s Grand Hustle Entertainment

After several years on the independent grind, Atlanta's underground king Killer Mike has confirmed that he has signed with T.I.'s Grand Hustle label.

"Am I signing to Grand Hustle? Yup, and Grind Time Official is too," Mike said in a recent interview. "We got an imprint and we're growing. The Roc had the Dips, the Roc had State Property, now Grand Hustle has Grind Time."

While Mike began his career with a Grammy award through OutKast and a record deal with Sony, he has long championed the independent route he took since departing Big Boi's now-defunct Purple Ribbon label and starting his own imprint. Earlier this year, he laid down the rules of releasing music independently, which you can read here, but since then things must have changed.

"Man, I truly love the independent scene," Mike said regarding his decision to finally return to the major label world with Grand Hustle. "I wanna still be a part of the independent community because I feel like it's valuable. I feel like it's needed. And I feel like all too often artists who make it [to a major] abandon it, and I have no intentions of doing that."

Although the "lawyers and managers" are still ironing out the details of Mike's new contract, he already has a title for the new album, which will be called '16 In The Kitchen,' which he plans to release early next year, and will feature production by No I.D. and Smiff & Cash, who worked on his last album 'I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II.'

He will also continue to release records through his imprint, Grind Time/SMC Recordings, and will be dropping a Grind Time compilation album in March entitled 'Underground Atlanta,' Which features Gucci Mane, Bohagon and Sean Paul of The Youngbloodz, to name a few.

It's been a big year for Mike. He released what we consider to be a top 5 album, reunited with Big Boi and has now signed with one of the most successful artists in music. As far as we're concerned, the world needs more Killer Mike. So as long as he's releasing music, we're happy.