MIKE is still a bright light in the underground hip-hop community.
He has been producing music since 2015 and is a pioneer in the genre of abstract rappers who use looping, sample-heavy production.
Beware of the Monkey, the New York emcee’s most recent album, was released in full on Wednesday (December 21).
There are 13 songs on the album, including the three singles that were previously published earlier this year: “nuthin I can do is wrng,” “What Do I Do?” “Stop Worrying,” and
Jadasea, Klein, King Carter, and Jamaican dancehall diva Sister Nancy also make guest appearances.
The latter is a featured artist on the previously stated “Stop Worry!” song and is best known for her 1982 hit song “Bam Bam.”
The song shows MIKE thinking on his vices and his rise to fame and becoming more reflective.“Grab a cup and let my face drown, accompanied with trees / Stu-Stuttering away, cause the company to leave / Just need something I could break down, budge against the heat / Buckle up, we ’bout to change routes, never changing speed,” he raps explicitly in the opening verse.
Beware of the Monkey also continues the New York rapper’s pattern of releasing a brand-new project every year since at least 2017. It is the sequel to Disco, his masterwork from June of last year.
