MIK has been a dominant voice in grimy circles for the last few years, tying together a solid work ethic with bags of personality and a penchant for breaking the mould. A member of prominent collective Family Tree, alongside fellow MCs Merky Ace, Ego, TKO and Shifman and in-house producers Faze Miyake and Splurt, he has forged a reputation for hype-driven hooks and memorable 16s but has an equally efficient ear for a beat. This is exemplified by collaborative work with the likes of Butterz stalwart D.O.K, dubstepper Funtcase and Bristol's much in-demand Kahn, the latter two of whom operate well outside the steely confines of London's grime circuit. It is this willingness to experiment that has set him apart from the majority of his contemporaries and birthed a number of working relationships that continue to pay dividends.
His work with Kahn dates back to 2010, so he tells me, after hearing a remix of iconic early single 'Duppy and Leave' that Kahn had put together and the two have continued to work closely ever since. Their latest meeting of minds has resulted in an exclusive mix of MIK vocal tracks which we have been lucky enough to get our hands on - it's a corker.
With the mix in mind, I managed to have a brief catch up with MIK too:
Tell us a little about the mix..
The mix came about soley just from doing a few live sets with Kahn. I've always really liked the his mixing style and track selection so I thought it would only be right to do a MIK vs Kahn mix and here we are!
You've worked with Kahn for quite some time now - how did that initially come about? How is it to work with him? Did you anticipate his collaborative work with Neek in particular being as successful as it has been?
I first heard if him in 2010 think. Someone tweeted me his vocal remix of a track I made a while ago called 'Duppy & Leave' and soon after, Royal-T recommended I work with him. I got in touch a few weeks later about doing a remix for one of my earlier singles 'Do It' and luckily enough he was game - the rest was history! Working with him is always smooth because he's a really easy going, humble guy like myself. I didn't know much about Neek until I heard 'Percy' though but it's good to see them both reaching new heights as a team because they're both wicked producers.
What can we expect from MIK over the course of 2013?
I'm gonna be focusing on putting out some deeper sounding stuff and a little less hype this year, the reason being I think my frame of mind has been in a different and more open place since 2012. I wanna express my thoughts in a different way this year.
Tracklisting:
Back You Know (Prod. by Swizzee)
Wooo Riddem Freestyle (Prod. by SX)
Ice Rink Freestyle (Prod. by Wiley) Duppy & Leave (Kahn Dub)
Fly Boy - Wiley Flushing MCs (Kahn Dub)
Do It (Kahn Dub)
Ninja Freestyle (Prod. by Exo)
TMEYE Freestyle (Kahn Dub)
Trouble Maker 2 - Wiley DPMO (Prod. by Nu Klear)
Shut Down Feat. Merky ACE (Kahn Dub)
Words by Tomas Fraser