Doomtree presents BLOWOUT MONDAY: Curated by MIKE MICTLAN
Presented by 89.3 The Current and City Pages
"This is my night, these are my friends, we all rap. I couldn't call this 'my' night in 'my' city without feeling like i meant it and this would not be 'my' city if all my friends on this bill did not share it with me. So like our city, i'm sharing 'my' stage and 'my' night with MY comrades. Whom without they're would be no Mike Mictlan and no Doomtree. no kings." -- Mike Mictlan
Tag your Doomtree-related tweets this week: #BlowoutVII
MIKE MICTLAN
With mainstream appeal, surgical precision, and unshakable crew love, Mike Mictlan (pronounced meek-lawn) is an unparalleled force in the underground. His live show is a spectacle of sweat and laughter and fury and communion. You could search every venue in every city, but you will not find an emcee in rap music with more heart than Mike Mictlan. No hype, just a simple guarantee. He believes in the music, the movement, and in his crew of friends. To see him in person, and to hear his voice, makes it hard not to believe it too.
DOOMTREE :: MYSPACE :: FACEBOOK :: TWITTER :: HAND / FIST
Mictlan is a native to Southern California and a current proud resident of South Minneapolis. His style has roots in both scenes. In his delivery, he’s a rapper’s rapper and a technician. He can stick fast stuccato runs, flip a pattern, and freestyle long after everyone else has gone to bed. But he’s also a writer who doesn’t shy from big themes and personal narrative. In his latest collaboration with Lazerbeak, Hand Over Fist, Mictlan employs his understated poetry to epic effect. The album goes by in a pageant of imagery: of fire and flight, long odds and close calls.
Mike met the founding members of Doomtree during his junior year in high school. In response to his deliquent streak, Mike’s parents had sent him from their L.A. home to live with his uncle in Minnesota. (No, the Fresh Prince storyline is not lost on us, please save your letters.) Living with his uncle and attending Hopkins High, he met P.O.S, Lazerbeak, MK Larada, and Paper Tiger. Although Mictlan soon returned to L.A., the Doomtree family tree had taken root. As the collective gained momentum in Minneapolis, Mictlan received more and more phone calls urging him to move to the Midwest. Five years later, he got off a plane with 2 duffel bags and a footlocker, ready to go wherever Doomtree was headed. Mictlan now tours with the group and as a solo performer, making converts and fans in every city.
I SELF DEVINE
I Self Devine returns with his highly anticipated sophomore album The Sound of Low Class Amerika. You can feel the passion I Self Devine delivers on topics of community, class and social injustice in America as he spits truths to inspire the masses. The album is both a narrative for the current state of the world and a telling history as to how we arrived here. I Self Devine's truly unique voice and style create a sense of urgency and call to action while leading and equipping the listener with the tools necessary to act and dissent.
TOKI WRIGHT
Raised in a Buddhist household, immersing himself in Black history, world culture, and community work, Toki Wright’s awareness of the diverse world we live in is translated through his content driven music. He has taken paths that run the gamut from a non-profit youth organization in North Minneapolis to work with war-affected children in Northern Uganda. As an artist, Wright’s travels have taken him throughout the United States and Canada as support and hypeman for Brother Ali. Other performance credits include Soundset, Coachella, CMJ, Bumbershoot, Paid Dues, Scribble Jam, and SXSW.
KILL THE VULTURES
KILL THE VULTURES vocalist Crescent Moon and producer Anatomy moved from Minneapolis, MN to NYC in September 2001 at the age of 19 with the now disbanded hip-hop group, Oddjobs. They spent the next few years learning the ropes by touring with groups like De La Soul, DJ Shadow, Talib Kweli, Atmosphere, Lyrics Born, Buck 65, Brother Ali, and Zion I, as well as headlining several tours. They also released records and toured as part of the Third Earth hip-hop crew, whose other members were Jean Grae, Mr. Len of Company Flow, Masterminds, Jugganknots, and Sub-Conscious.
SPYDER BAYBIE RAW DOG
Spyder Baybie rawdog is from the future. During his "short" stint in the eight legged rugged rawdogs S.B.R.D was able to perfect the twin paradox. Both gravitational time dilation and special relativity were needed to explain spyder's experiment on time dilation using precise measurements and only the rawest of techniques. On one of spyder's frequent clockhops he met 2% Muck. The two began making eye contact,sweat,and fusion noise. Within hours of their first meeting ectoplasm began flowing from every hole in their body.
2% MUCK
also known - as 2% muck, muck the original funky scientist, led savage
city - minneapolis
quote - "im a producer so muck stays productive"
genre - hip-hop/dubstep/dance/pop/r&b/funk
influences - the mars volta, busta rhymes, k-dee, j dilla, the headhunters, eddie hazel, pharoahe, beck, dan the automator, benga, blackalicious, del, devin, em, el-p, jel, weezy, mf doom, andre, tech n9ne, squarepusher, burning spear, dr, alimantado, mad professor, method, miles, zappa, king crimson, aaliyah, to name a few
studio - my basement closet
occupation - this and that
F. STOKES
I was born in Chicago to a single mother household. My father is serving a life sentence in prison for murder. I moved to Madison, Wisconsin at the age of 12. I lived in a one room shelter with my mother and 5 other brothers and sisters. I didn’t get my own room until I was well into my teens. Puberty was a constant wild goose chase. I’ve sold drugs. I’ve carried guns. I am not cooler than you. I’ve been known as an excellent bridge-burner, a skill I am religiously trying to lose. Sometimes I appear not as smart as I really am.
ILLUMINOUS 3
Well known in Minnesota and the midwest for their live stage shows and raw energy, Illuminous 3 (Freez, Mavin MC & Franz Diego) has proven that you can have it all; hard beats, smart raps, rep Minnesota and still have fun all at the same time!
BIG ZACH (NEW MC)
New MC (a.k.a. Big Zach) is a longtime staple of the underground hip-hop movement in Minnesota. As a teenager, Zach jumped on the scene early with his crew the Kanser Troop, playing coffee shop shows and opening for Twin Cities pioneers such as Urban Atmosphere (now known as just Atmosphere, of course) the Abstract Pack, the Micranots, Musab, and others. In 1997 Kanser pushed over 1,000 copies of Now, an album produced on Atmosphere producer ANT’s 4-track and dubbed by hand to cassette.
ICE ROD
Born Michael Gaughan and living large under the moniker Ice Rod, this white rapper has legitimate freestyle skills. Matching sophisticated raunchy rhymes with through-the-roof energy and hilarity, Ice Rod’s raps have the potential to melt your brain. On his album It’s About Sex and Hip Hop, Ice Rod tells tales of psycho wards and feminist roommates, golden showers and camera phones, orgasms and glaucoma.
LONGSHOT
A well seasoned emcee from Chicago, Longshot recently moved to Minneapolis after getting signed with Rhymsayers Entertainment. Longshot recorded a song, 'hip hop is', and entered it in a Jake One/Rhymesayers Entertainment song writing contest. After over 1,000 entries and over 7,000 votes, Longshot was chosen as the winner, and will have his next single produced by Jake One and distributed by Rhymesayers Enertainment.
AUDIO PERM
Audio Perm hails from Minneapolis, MN and is made up of 3 producers, all under the age of 21. Taylor Madrigal, Julian Fairbanks, and Cory Grindberg formed Audio Perm in 2009, and the crew has been making noise throughout the local scene ever since; working with artists such as P.O.S., Toki Wright, Mike Mictlan, Big Quarters, and Nomi (Power Struggle). Audio Perm in Full Effect features 30 brand new instrumentals, with 10 beats from each producer. The crew's influences include DJ Premier, Timbaland, J Dilla, Pete Rock, and Dr. Dre.
SLAPPING PURSES
Dance party eccrine and experimental noise abrasion may seem like distinct corners of the musical universe, but those with their nose in the Twin Cities underground know the explosive potential when the 'tween do meet. Like a methed-out Afrikaa Bambaataa scratching your itch for brain scrambling distortion, Slapping Purses is this nexus. Kick drum whumps, bass boom throbbing, garbled bombardments of sharp noise, and the most sinister command of breaks, breaks, breaks, since Marley Marl and Co.
