Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike signs global deal with Reservoir

Killer Mike, one half of acclaimed hip hop duo Run the Jewels, has signed a new deal with Reservoir.

As reported by Billboard, the Grammy-winning artist – real name Michael Render – has signed to the company in a global publishing deal. It means that Reservoir now owns a sizeable stake in the Run the Jewels catalogue, and they’ll also have a stake in Mike’s future work as well.

“A great publisher is a major key to success, and I’m excited to embark on this phase of my career with the dynamic team at Reservoir,” the rapper shared about the deal.

“Killer Mike has been a fixture of hip-hop for decades now, and both his past successes and upcoming music continue to push boundaries and address deeply meaningful topics,” Reservoir executive vice president of A&R and catalogue development Faith Newman added.

“Artists and visionaries of his calibre do not come around often, and we are grateful to be the publishing home for such a trailblazing creator.”

Alongside producer El-P, Mike has released four studio albums under the Run the Jewels name. The most recent of these, 2020’s RTJ4, was a significant commercial success, reaching the top 10 in both the U.K. Album Chart and the U.S. Billboard 200. In Australia, it reached number 25 on the ARIA Album Chart.

Before his time in Run the Jewels, Mike had been an active solo artist since 1995. He’s released five solo albums to date, the most successful of these being his 2003 debut Monster, which peaked at number 10 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Mike has worked on projects with hip hop artists including Outkast, Jay-Z, and Big Boi. For his collaboration with Outkast, ‘The Whole World’, he received the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2003. He also featured on ‘Poppin’ Tags’, taken from Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse.