I caught up with MIK…

Noted by many as the grime scene’s hardest working MC, I caught up with South East London Resident M.I.K to talk about his promo’s, future projects and GrimeForum.

Me: Thanks for taking time out, hows things going ?

MIK: I’m all good just living life really.

Me: Good..so you’ve just released ‘Workaholic’ your CD, for those who ain’t listened yet, describe it for us.

MIK: 21 tracks of hard hitting grime for the real grime fans none of that watered down crap that floating about at the moment.

Me: Producer wise what can we expect ?

MIK: Beat creatures, swizze star, zdot, jbeatz, crazee bandit, lowko, vd, smurf, tham and deverlish.

Me: A nice mix up, so whats next for you ?

MIK: Well I just put out the mixtape so I’m just pushin dat at the moment then after I’ve felt I’ve dun enough with it I’m guna work on a single for my next mixtape ‘Grime to five’ which should be out sum time next year if not sooner.

Me: I see. I guess it’s hard to argue with your work rate, you’ve done a lot of promo, how many promos have you done and what’s the latest one ?

MIK: Well I’ve done 13 promos since last year June not to mention the I love pirate radio series and just before the mixtape landed I dropped the 10 minute tea break ep. So yeah alot of ground work.

Me: The I love pirate series was quite unique in it’s own right, in a non-obvious way what inspired you to do that ?

MIK: I just happened to be on my pc one day listening to a couple of my radio rips and thinkin to myself I’ve done alot of radio work that people may not have heard so I just made a little ting outta most of the rips I had stored on the hard drive.

Me: Interesting..you mentioned earlier the whole “watered down thing”, overall how do you see the scene at the moment ?

MIK: It’s just mad at the moment ‘cos there really ain’t a market for the hard grime as there was before, so alot of mc’s are jumpin the funky and hip hop wagon which I can understand in a way ‘cos as an artist you need to spread your word whether it’s in grime or not.

Me: Is that hinting towards a direction you maybe going ?

MIK: Nah not at the moment but I’m not sayin I wouldn’t go in that direction ever ‘cos you never know really music is music at the end of the day.

Me: And of course a big part of music these days in particular grime is the Internet, and you can be found on Grimeforum, is the forum a help or a hindrance to your progression as an artist ?

MIK: Yeah for sure it has helped ‘cos alot people hadn’t heard of me,. before then my stuff was gettin posted on there.

Me: And no secret to anyone your name recently has been embroiled in several lyrical spats, with Lee Brasco being a point. How did this all come about ?

MIK: Basically, I checked my myspace one day and saw a message from Lee saying man are sayin I sent for you. So I’m confused didn’t know what he was on about, so I messaged him back sayin I dunno what your on about, so I jumped on my facebook straight after, I see a message from kast sayin suttin like sounds like he’s biting ur flow with a link 2 a video. I check the video I’ve seen it’s brasco I’ve listened 2 the tune thinkin I cant hear nuffin.

I got half way through and I’m hearin Ergh dis ergh dat in da same way that I say it no different so I’ve clocked what his message was about on myspace so I message him back sayin fella I’ve just heard the tune I don’t know if your sendin for me or what but you’ve fully catted the way I say ergh so he message me back sayin hes never heard of me until that day which is a lie cos he heard me on westwood last year December with Spitter, fact, but yeah that’s all dead now init.

Me: And what’s the score with Kozzie ? You’ve fired shots that way as well. That seems a more personal thing ?

MIK:  He called my name on radio, I sent for him simple.

Me: Right..on a more positive vibe, which MC’s/producers are doing well for you at the moment ?

MIK: Wiley, Chipmunk, Stryder, Skepta, Bashy.  But more on a under ground note I’d say, Producers: swizzee, beat ceatures, Wiley, Silencer and one guy im workin with on my new mixtape called Relentless from bedford, gotta nice sound. MC’s there’s merky of course when I see what he’s doin it reminds me of when I was cummin up. Ermm ego some demon style mc serious bars and TKO fully sick I fully rate him at the mo.

Me: What inspired you to make music and what makes you carry on ?

MIK: People like heartless crew, so solid, pay as you go, essentials, wiley they made me do this grime ting and the fact that it’s part of my lifestyle makes me wanna do it even more, to reach new heights.

Me: Ok well that’s a wrap for now, any last shoutouts ?

MIK: Shouts to myself for staying strong through all lifes struggles, blunt, all the djs dat have helped me, producers that send me stuff ona regs and urself for this interview, oh yeah, and grime !

MIK’s Myspace / Twitter / Workaholic CD

P Money – Money Over Everyone (Out Soon)

From the streets of South London barring as part of young collective Fatal Assassins, P Money has come a long way. Commonly mentioned as a part of peoples top 10 MC’s, the 21 year old MC has proved that hard work pays off, and that there is some power in the form of free download..

2008's 'Coins 2 Notes'

‘Coins 2 Notes’ was essentially the break P Money needed. Popular tunes included ‘My Soldiers 2′, ‘Switch’, ‘Money On My Mind’ and a version of G-Dubs popular production ‘Jezebel’. This certainly propelled P to higher places, appearing on radio sets everywhere including Tim Westwood’s BBC 1Xtra show, where he fired shots at East London MC Ghetts.

Later on that year, as a promo to his later coming mixtape P dropped ‘A Little Back Then With Now’, another free venture containing even more shots for Ghetts.

A Little Back Then With Now

‘The Grime Scene PT 1″ was a clever song using the names of various different MC’s and CD titles to rhyme and “Sounds and Gimmicks (only a preview then’ used various MC’s trademark bars and noises to create a quite stunning song ! ‘The Other One‘ was radio rip with Money for Ghetts containing the lyrics:

“NA it’s not Kano…..It’s the OTHER ONE”.

‘Who’s Next’ is rip from another westwood show, this time Money guns for Scorcher, and makes reference to Schorcher’s time in prison. Neither Ghetto or Scorcher have directly replied to or addressed the situation until this recent video with Wiley and Ghetts.

The promo did certainly generate hype for his mixtape,  ‘P Money Is Power’.

I rated the mixtape number 1 in my overall top 10 for 2008. Not everyone seemed to agree with me, many complained that the quality of productions let it down (those like DJ Moky, Mastermind etc) but many agreed the vocal qualities were good with great tunes like the OG’s remix of ‘What Did He Say’.

Now P Money is ready to drop his latest project before his album, this one entitled “Money Over Everyone”.

It’s a good cover, note the artists names on the walls.

Tracklisting

1. Intro
2. Left The Room
3. Fruits and Veg
4. 1 UP
5. Cool Safe ft Og’z , Drfiter & Lady Leesha
6. Nah Breddah
7. Never Had One
8. Danger ft Craiigg & Dean Whodini
9. Cash In My Pocket ft Wiley & Frisco
10. They Don’t Understand  ft Little Dee
11. Crazy ft Craiigg & Little Dee
12. Hot Ones (OG MADNESS)
13. Look How Many ft Germs & Blacks
14. Man Wanna Know
15. Or What   ft Kozzie
16. If Mans Talking
17. Nobody    ft Mischief
18. I’m Og’z    ft Little Dee & Blacks
19. Gamerover

The tracklisting looks good and strong with a variety of tunes on there. ‘Left The Room’ is a dubstep enticed banger produced by notorious dubstep producer Sukh Knight, and the bass continues on Dot Rotten (Yet slightly Rapid sounding) produced tune “Don’t Understand”.  P Money’s version of ‘1 Up’ is impressive, as well as concept tune ‘Fruit & Veg’ & DVA’s remix of Wiley’s “Cash In My Pocket”. Here’s what to expect (Radio rips)

Left The Room, Fruits & Veg, 1 UP and They Don’t Understand

And here’s why to BUY the mixtape:

Uptown Records

Avalanche Music Hut

PEACEEE