Reports have been flooding in about the mounting beef between Atlanta brethren Killer Mike, and his former friend/boss, Outkasts’ Big Boi. In a recent interview with Sohh.com, Killer explained the situation surrounding the conflict, and what he plans to do to resolve it:

“First of all, let me start by saying it’s nothing. I done saw a good friend lose a good friend, Tip lost Philant [Johnson] and had another friend shot in the face so I don’t want anybody to think that this is a beef,” said Killer Mike.

“I also want to apologize to everybody in the A-Town, Morris Brown, my mother, grandmother, Big Boi’s mother, Dre’s mother and anybody who may have witnessed what wasn’t me and Big Boi fighting, but what was two grown men not seeing eye to eye. I never touched him and he never touched me. Some of the things they said I did to Big Boi, if I had did, I don’t know if I could have lived with that.”

Mike’s side of the story describes men confronting him in his Atlanta hometown, doing their best to shake him up, and words were exchanged, leading back to the statements made by former Purple Ribbon labelmate, C-Bone, in which he called Killer a “Monkey”. However, Mike says that the insult was not the main driving point of the tension, offering,

“I’m from the same city as Martin Luther King, brother, Atlanta. No way I’m gonna back down from nobody. I deal with bosses. I don’t talk to secretaries, sidekicks, suckers or civil servants.” “My ego was upset by [C-Bone’s comment] but that’s not the reason I was upset. I can forgive him for that.” He continues, “I think it’s just two people, who were friends and care about each other who stopped doing business together and that’s not always pretty.

Mike left Big Boi’s new Purple Ribbon imprint late last year, amidst speculation of animosity from fellow artists, but he felt that the change in scenery was the best thing could have done for himself. He created Grind Time Official, and has since released his critically acclaimed album, “I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind”, saying, “I don’t care if you’re working the trap or you’re trapped at work, you’re going to relate to this album.”

As for the situation with he and Big Boi, and his feelings of being put “on the bench” for so long, Killer said “For me, [I left] when I woke up disgusted with myself like, ‘How long are you going to wait around for another man to give you what’s already there for you to take.’”