MIKE Shines at The Grog Shop and Talks About His Musical Trajectory and Latest Project

MIKE is an artist’s artist. In a musical climate where the question “Is hip hop dead?” continues to dominate the narrative, MIKE answers with ease: hip hop is alive and well and isn’t going anywhere…at least not on his watch.

However, his humbleness is refreshing. In an industry where brashness and bravado is the name of the game, MIKE has an air of quiet confidence in himself and his craft that is rare in this day and age. But at only 25 years old and 12 albums in, he’s accomplished feats in the rap game that most can only dream of, and yet it feels like he’s just getting started.

Mike has been touring at a tireless pace, having just completed the European leg of his headlining “Somebody Fine Me Trouble Tour.” Now in the middle of the U.S. leg, I sat down with him at the Lionheart Coffee Shop in downtown Cleveland, the day after his sold out show at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights.

“It’s crazy to me, because I feel like a student. I feel like there’s still so much for me to learn,” was his response when I mentioned his critical acclaim in such publications as Pitchfork, and The Fader.

His peers and respected names in music have lauded him as keeping the tradition of real hip hop alive. He accepts this too, with humility.

“I’m grateful. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out how to take it all in. I’m grateful for the wisdom and the grace that people have shown me in my journey in music. I’ve been doing it [making music] off my high school laptop for hella long, so I almost feel like I cheated,” he laughs. “So I be like, please, not too much praise”.

Maybe it’s his dedication, love of music and cutting his teeth in the birthplace of hip hop, New York City, that have kept him so grounded. MIKE grew up a little bit of everywhere. Born in New Jersey, he and his family moved around quite a bit, including abroad to London, England. He eventually returned to the states. At first to Philly, then the Bronx in New York and ultimately settled in Brooklyn as a teenager where his love for rap really started to take root. I asked him about the influence that New York and its rap legacy has had on him and his music.

“I do feel like it’s had a great influence on me. New York is one of those places where you don’t realize how much the legacy of the city is influencing you. But as I’ve gotten older i’ve had realizations like ‘Oh fuck,’ I can really see its effect on me. I have more of an appreciation for it now.”

New York is where MIKE had a fateful meeting with his favorite artist and cult rap icon, Earl Sweatshirt. During a low point while in his freshman year of college, MIKE returned to New York and ran into Earl by happenstance. The two had a brief exchange where he told Earl how his music changed his life. MIKE had no idea that the meeting would result in Earl later discovering his music, and the two becoming friends and frequent collaborators.

“It took a minute to figure out how that all came together. I think he bought my music on Band Camp. I reached out, and then a few months later he came to the city, we linked up and that’s been the homie ever since. Really, like my big brother for real.”

MIKE is no stranger to collaborating with musical legends. The prior night at the Grog Shop, you could feel a palpable bolt of electricity surge through the crowd when the dancehall influenced track “Stop Worry” queued up, featuring the iconic Sister Nancy. It was clearly the fan favorite of the night out of the set list.

“I met her cousin, (another reggae legend) Marcia Aitken, and she brought her [Sister Nancy] through and we played the track for her. I swear I had a spiritual experience that night. Then I was working on the album months later, and ‘Stop Worry’ felt like a reggae beat and I thought it would be cool to try to get her on it. She was in Jamaica at the time. Naav (Mike’s manager) got in touch with her booking agent, we sent the track to her and she sent it back like two days later. That shit was crazy.”

For every cosign and amazing collaboration, the thing that’s most humbling is the relationship MIKE has with his fans. While in the packed crowd I noticed fans rapping along every word and heard chatter from those that had traveled from states over to Cleveland to catch his performance.

“I think it’s such a special relationship. I’ve been there, being in the crowd. I want it to feel like we’re all in the same place and we can interact.”

Those die hard fans also already knew the lyrics to his latest project ‘Pinball’ which dropped last month. He described the creation of the album with producer Tony Seltzer, as pretty effortless.

“It was lowkey such a good vibe after making ‘Two Door’ [the album intro] that we just kept running it up. We weren’t even trying to make a project. But everytime we would link up, I would try not to leave without making a song. Two months in, we realized we had enough for two projects.”

At some point during our talk I casually mentioned that at this point he’s a veteran in the rap game and to my surprise MIKE responded, “I think that’s my first veteran tag!” Still ever humble. Even his thoughts on what he wants his legacy to be when it’s all said and done say alot about who is as an artist and human being.

“I think about life in the future, like if i’m not making all the hits in the world, or not on the radio, type shit. People will see me and be like ‘Hey, he was a really good rapper back in the day’, maybe I’ll get a free croissant or something [laughs].”

‘Pinball’ is out on all platforms now

Follow MIKE on IG @mikelikesrap and on Twitter @T6Mikee.

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