Killer Mike started the conversation at his barbershop, called the Swag Shop, by telling Sanders: "I rap about a lot of the stuff you rant about." Several fist bumps followed as the two clearly warmed up to one another during a wide-ranging back-and-forth that also included an extended discussion of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

AD

AD

At the time of the rally, Render told reporters that he and Sanders were “two angry radical guys, one 74 and white, one 40 and black.”

Here are some choice moments from their conversation:

On Sanders's entry into politics

Sanders: “I didn’t get into politics to figure out how I could become president or a senator. I got into politics because I give a damn. I do think it is an outrage that we have people sleeping on the streets in this country, that 51 percent of young African American kids are unemployed or underemployed, that millions of people don't have any health insurance. ... Is that a good answer?"

AD

Killer Mike: "That is a good answer. That is an answer that people need to hear. I trust old people, to be very frank. ... I say that because my grandparents raised me."

AD

On how the federal government treats marijuana

Sanders: “As you know … the federal Controlled Substance Act says that a Schedule 1 drug, marijuana, is the same as heroin. What do you think about that?”

Killer Mike: “I’m a marijuana smoker. That is absolute bullsh-t.”

Sanders: "Ok, of course it's crazy. Everybody knows it's crazy."

On Sanders’s ‘democratic socialist’ label

Killer Mike: "What is socialism and what does it mean to the black community?"

Sanders: "To be truly free, you need economic rights. ... In the richest country in the history of the world, Mike, which is what we are right now, we can do infinitely better in providing economic rights for our people."

AD

On Donald Trump

Sanders: "People are angry and they're frustrated. So somebody like Trump comes along ... and you play on people's fear and anxiety. This is the oldest story in the book. ..."

AD

Killer Mike: “It's McCarthyism again. ... It amazes me that people run from you as though, ‘He’s a socialist.’ But they embrace Trump’s philosophy. That’s gratuitous fascism.”

On Hillary Clinton

Sanders: "I'm running against a woman who's probably the best known woman in the United States of America, alright? It's a tough fight, but we're doing pretty well."

Killer Mike: "You brought it up. I wasn't going to mention Hillary, and I'm not going to talk long. But are we in this country in danger of creating essentially monarchs of political families?"

AD

(Sanders doesn't answer directly.)

On their disagreement over banning assault weapons

Killer Mike: "I'm from the South. I like guns. I like guns a lot. ... That doesn't jump me off your boat."

On the virtues of democracy

Sanders: "I am a fierce believer in democracy. You know what, I love democracy. I love the fact that in this room somebody disagrees with me, they say, 'Bernie, you're full of sh-t. I'm going to vote against you.' That's fine. I love it. I love people thinking about what sort of future they want."

On staying angry

Killer Mike: "I wish to stay as angry as you."