House of Grime Interview with M.I.K

Frankstah over at ' House of Grime' (check my 'Allies' section) chatted to the man of the moment M.I.K about various subjects :

http://ogfrankstah.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/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