Lessons falling back to the original Emerald Tablet, MIKE envisions the world as this encapsulated space where both the history of beauty and the fragments of pain can exist within the same plane.

Levels to the performance, Disco! is immediately a glance into both the glory of one of New York City’s brightest poets, but also instrumentally is a charged burst of electrifying grace and protection.

Opening with “Evil Eye,” MIKE uses a John Lee & Gerry Brown sample as the main instrumentation and narration that plays beneath his verse. MIKE is almost this giant over the sample and with instrumentation that plays more like a resurrection than any sort of introduction, “Evil Eye” will continue to be a fantastic motion within MIKE’s discography.

The verse which has MIKE in the monotoned but still towering voice, describes, “I was gone for a tad on the way back dummy, if he talk bad I’m getting payback dummy. Why you tryna hang? You should save that money.”

Like the power of a warm afternoon in spring, “Evil Eye” is an immediate smile to the face and contains this immense warmth between the production and vocal inflection. Production especially needs to be highlighted on Disco! as even the interludes like “Leaders Of Tomorrow (Intro)” contain this storytelling element and segueing motion without breaking the flow within the record.

The tapping hi-hat and rambunctious horn underneath give vitality to the instrumentation, while MIKE is not present as a vocalist on the first half of the track, his producer moniker dj blackpower involves the hands of MIKE all over Disco!.

When the second half does fade into the frame, the beat changes and becomes entirely carried by this shouting match coinciding within itself, forming an alliance powering against MIKE. He fights against this yelling and becomes buried between walls of sound.

Somehow managing the world in his hands, MIKE is crystal clear on delivery and gives a personal favorite verse for Disco!. He illustrates, “I had them label checks going out to sis, I can only stress the thought to see her wrist tight. Sometimes I thought to  take the losses as a gift, cause only death will show  you how to live right?”

Later pieces like “ghoulish” are a complete break in the tension where MIKE snaps and becomes sluggish on the production and the emotion changes between the delivery. Instead of a smiling behemoth, there is this tortured god.

The introduction is the most hopeful section of the entire track which has this feminine narration, almost as if a mother would talk to a child, describing, “Do not give up, we love you. I keep loving you every day, never stop loving you. And I love you for it.”

When MIKE creeps into the frame, the beauty of the track comes from the instrumentation behind where the ethereal choruses are more fitting for a funeral than any sense of redemption. Pain in delivery and moments of self-doubt seeming to fade, “ghoulish” is the darkest point for Disco!.

But it can’t rain forever and in these moments of extreme darkness comes the abstract solution of light washing over in the form of “Endgame” where the sporadic instrumental becomes a secure bump back into prosperity and a higher market of mind.

In the scattered streets of New York and even in the smallest smoke-filled rooms of any metropolis, there is always a need for a messenger that captures the energy of all those people inside its walls. MIKE becomes a wordsmith capable of real skills without coming off as anything more than a relatable narrator.

Listen To Disco! Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/iTunes