The first solo record for Killer Mike in over a decade, “RUN” is about Black Americans, the uphill battle for equality and protecting Black art. This song is the penultimate result of decade-old racism and its persistence in today’s society. Mike links up with Young Thug, where the two West Atlanta rappers bask in their blessings while remembering their upbringing in the United States' unforgiving social climate.

On top of being a rapper, Killer Mike is a political activist who has worked hard to bring awareness to systemic racism and social inequality. Whether its interviews, attending press conferences or presenting college lectures, he is ever so vocal when talking about politics and social issues. In an interview with GQ, he said this about his city’s battle with racism:

It is the Black city that, far from perfect, has worked. It worked during reconstruction. It worked through Jim Crow. It worked for the last 50 years with black leadership…. At every stage, Blacks in Atlanta have found a way.

Given the MC’s stance on the fight for social justice in Atlanta, Young Thug’s inclusion on this track is ever topical, given how he was arrested just under two months before the release of this song. Thugger and the majority of his YSL label mates were locked up on gang-related RICO charges as part of a 56-count grand jury indictment from Georgia’s Fulton County police. Several songs from the YSL group were played inside of courtrooms as evidence in order to convict the artists. This choice was criticized by many, including Thug himself, arguing that no rapper’s artistic expression should be used against them in court. From jail, Young Thug said:

You know, this isn’t just about me or YSL; I always use my music as a form of artistic expression, and now I see that Black artists and rappers don’t have that, you know, freedom.

Another person involved with this track who utilizes race as a form of artistic expression is Dave Chappelle, a comedian who often trivializes race in sketches and standup. Chappelle provides a narrative intro for the song, present on the track’s music video, however, it is absent from streaming services.

During an interview for this track released on Independence Day in the United States, a holiday long understood to be beloved by white people, Killer Mike tells Complex that the first person to die during the American Revolution was a Black man named Crispus Attucks. It is incredibly poetic how Mike aims to capture the silencing of the efforts of Black people in a country where they are still persecuted, despite all they’ve sacrificed for it. Above all else, this track reminds us to never forget to keep running on behalf of the voices who were drowned out in the name of freedom.