Photo courtesy Netflix
“Trigger Warning with Killer Mike” debuted as a Netflix original on Jan. 18. The show is a witty docuseries showcasing the main character, Killer Mike, attempting to complete specific social experiments.
Michael Render, better known as Killer Mike, is a rapper, actor and activist from Atlanta. According to biography.com, he claimed his name by “guesting on cuts” of the Atlanta hip-hop group OutKast. He is now part of the rap duo Run the Jewels.
Using his platform for activism, Killer Mike explores buying from only black-owned businesses, teaching trade school using pornography, uniting gang members through inventing a drink, producing an uniting song with a diverse group of talent, creating a new religion, and ultimately creating his own country.
The first episode of the series, “Living Black,” begins with Killer Mike buying and using only black owned products from black owned businesses for three days. To complete this challenge, Killer Mike gets rid of his iPhone in exchange for a phone by the company Figgers Communication, which is the largest black telecom provider.
Because there are no black owned car companies, Trigger Mike was forced to walk until he found We Cycle Atlanta, a non profit that offers access to bikes, fresh produce, and education of cycling and agriculture to youth. Later in the episode, he finds a black owned bus company owned by the Harmon brothers.
To help with finding black owned businesses, Killer Mike visits a representative from webuyblack.com, a website that shows where to “buy black.” This includes anything from toothpaste to clothing items in efforts to promote small business and keep money in the black community.
Killer Mike’s greatest challenge during this experiment is finding food that was not only cooked by black people but grown by black people and sold at a black owned store. He was successful in finding the Your Supermarket and the West Broad Church of Christ, which is a school founded during segregation that served as a resource for education, food and religious studies.
This episode set the tone for the rest of the season. Each episode is an experiment for the betterment of the black community and ridding of any negative stigmas or stereotypes.
An example of this is in another interesting episode titled “White Gang Privilege” featuring the notorious gang the Crips. This episode is one of the funniest of the season as Killer Mike notices that white gangs such as the Hells Angels profit off of their gang by selling paraphernalia and even own a trademark on their name.
However, black gangs do not make a profit, so Killer Mike helps the Crips invent a drink called “Crip-a-Cola.” Crip-a-Cola is created based off of the idea that Coca-Cola kills more Americans than gang violence due to the amount of sugar in it.
Although, when trying to market their new found brand, stores would not accept the drink due to the Crips’ violent image, even though white gangs participate in the same activities, but do not receive the same judgment.
These are just two very interesting and insightful episodes of the six episode season.
I recommend this funny, informative series of social experiments to everyone.
Netflix has done it again with this exciting experimental original series. I look forward to a second season.