MIKE has a senior’s wisdom in the body of a young adult. The New Jersey-born and New York-based talent has been incredibly prolific with his art, releasing 15 separate projects since 2015, the majority of them being high-quality, like his mixtapes “Beware of The Monkey” and “tears of joy.”
“Showbiz!” marks MIKE’s first full decade in the rap sphere and it feels like he’s still just warming up, consistently delivering thought provoking, utterly beautiful rap. He helped to innovate the “[sLUms].” style of abstract and experimental hip-hop, notably inspiring Earl Sweatshirt’s acclaimed “Some Rap Songs,” along with a new generation of rappers.
To put it lightly, MIKE is extremely talented as a rapper and producer — under the “dj blackpower” name — and deserves the critical acclaim he’s received. MIKE has come a long way from the tradition of releasing projects on the solstices.
“Showbiz!” begins with “Bear Trap,” a single for the album. It contains very relaxed quality production and MIKE flows elegantly on the beat. The way he hums before he starts rapping is beautiful. “Sleeve of smoke, I try and gain my spirit, make it storm less / It’s freezing cold, low-key been a minute since a warm text” demonstrates not only MIKE’s talented penmanship, but also the intimacy of his lyrics.
“Then we could be free..” has MIKE reflect on mental health with lyrics like “I’m learning ‘bout restraint and release,” “You could hear the pain in my speech” and “I never seen the face of relief, just the payment.”
“Watered down” has a beautiful line: “That’s my sister, treat her like my daughter, really.” MIKE stresses the importance of family and relationships in his art and it’s beautiful. That lyric reminds me of my almost three-year-old little sister and how I sort of feel like a surrogate mother for her. Furthermore, found families can bring comfort to people with a family dynamic although the people aren’t related by blood.
“Artist of the Century” as a song title is a bold claim, but lyrically and production-wise, MIKE is certainly up there as one of the best rappers and producers out right now. The best part of this song is the interlude-like saxophone with warped recording sounds. It’s beautiful, to say the least.
“What U Bouta Do?/A Star was Born” has this gem of a line: “I’m the living proof, I’m my parents’ child.” 454 was an interesting choice for a feature considering his heavy usage of autotune, which doesn’t mesh too well with MIKE’s usual sound, yet the guest verse used more raw vocals and flowed well.
“Belly 1” has a production feature by Harrison of rap collective turned production supergroup SURF GANG. The bossa nova-style beat is, to put it lightly, innovative and super creative. MIKE flows incredibly well on the beat.
“Da Roc” sounds like a polished track from “Pinball” in collaboration with the producer Tony Seltzer. It’s one of the more trap-sounding songs on the album.
“Lost Scribe” is a pretty meta song, addressing MIKE’s tendency to write rap lyrics. The line “It’s a war when I scribe / I’ve been praying to you since like I’m sure it was mine ? They tellin’ me I’m big, felt shorter inside / But the remainder what I give, what I record in these lines” was such a good way to start the song.
“You’re The Only One Watching” contains a pitched-up vocal sample and a spoken word sample from MIKE’s late mother. MIKE’s devotion towards his mother is beautiful, and I hope she is proud of all MIKE has achieved with his art.
“Lucky” sounds like a song by experimental rapper Cities Aviv on “BLACK PLEASURE 2012” with the booming drums. MIKE acknowledges the hardships dealt his way, rapping “I got demons takin’ care of that.”
“#82” sees MIKE talking to somebody about producing, mixing and mastering before the song starts. The beat is very surreal and trippy with masterful production.
The jazz instrumentation on “Pieces Of A Dream” is super groovy. The lyrics themselves are an ode to weed. “Now I know that the rain ain’t done” is an excellent line, while “Strange Feeling” is even groovier with the vaporwave-like sample.
“Zombie pt.2” is a sequel to the track “Zombie” from 2023’s “Burning Desire.” It’s super psychedelic, production-wise, and there’s a spoken word sample explaining the concept of people becoming zombies through “religious ceremonies and behavioral manipulation.”
On “Burning House,” MIKE raps a striking line: “Devil in my arm, slow dance.” He should release a poetry book with all of these beautiful lines he writes. And “Showbiz! (Intro),” the 20th song on the album, has some of MIKE’s best rapping with the packed rhyme scheme. If you want to put people onto MIKE’s music and they doubt his talent, show them this song.
“Spun Out” has an infectious rhyme scheme and a warped synth-like beat produced by dj blackpower that sounds like it could potentially be featured as the soundtrack on an Adult Swim bumper. “Miss U” is the second collaboration between MIKE and R&B singer duendita. It’s a super relaxing song.
“When it Rains” has a great piano sample, and the sludgy, surreal jazz-inspired wall of sound that is “Diamond Dancing (Broke)” is the pleasant-sounding closer on “Showbiz!”
“Showbiz!” has some incredibly high highs but also a few lows. However, the highs very much outnumber the lows, and there are a ton of creative and well-executed design choices. This album is a great way to introduce the music of MIKE following “Disco!” to someone who has never heard his music before, because it displays his artistic breadth with so many different sounds. Thank you for sharing your art with the world, MIKE.
Rating: 4/5