Mike-Dash-E

In this day and age it seems like literally everybody knows at least 1-2 people who rap. What’s surprising about that is the fact that a lot of those MC’s actually have legitimate talent. Yet most of the time what differentiates someone who makes a career out of their music from the guy who lives down the block or the chick that sits in front of you in class is drive and ambition. While tons of people can lounge in their room and pen dope lyrics, or kick an ill freestyle at a party, few have the ability and the will to do everything else that’s required to be a professional MC. In addition to writing and reciting full projects worth of high quality bars, artists have to ceaselessly network, collaborate with other rappers and singers, shell out money to or establish quality relationships with producers, get yourself in a legit studio, get your music properly mixed and mastered, get/pay directors to shoot you videos, get photographers to do photo shoots with you, get designers to establish logos, websites, album covers and merchandise, book shows and establish a high quality live repertoire, do interviews, hustle to get your music played on the radio and tv, as well as posted on the most influential websites (Thizzler included! What?), get your albums sold in retail stores (if you get to that point of your career), and then properly market them so people will actually spend money on you. That’s a lot, and it still doesn’t encompass everything. While all of this year’s Bay Area Freshmen have to have been at least somewhat capable of doing all of these things in order to get included on the list, Mike-Dash-E makes hustling look easy.

Yet before we get into his long list of accomplishments that have happened in just the past few years, it’s important to remember that he’s not just a business man; Mike can really spit. His music is filled with inspirational bars about a self made man, from an immigrant family, doing everything he can to take full advantage of the opportunity that he was given, but so many were not. At the same time, while that seems to be the overarching message of his music that he rarely strays completely away from, he’s able to simultaneously provide listeners with many additional themes that we have grown to appreciate and look for in rap music, such as: parties, women, fashion, the streets, love, loss, drugs, alcohol, cars and the works. It’s this range of topics, as well as an audible range of influences that include Nas on one end of the spectrum and modern trunk music on the other, that makes his music lack uniform, and thus stay compelling and fresh.


Mike was born in the Philippines and moved to America at the age of 2. He started rapping early in life, and in 2005 formed the group Deuce One with the Unorthaknoxx Producers (Rommel Fernando and Louie Nubla). In 2007 he joined the Smallzville Ent. Camp, and started working with them. The result was features on the Circus The Kid and Rich Lawson Project and Tas’s “T Slaughter” album. In the beginning of 2009 Mike dropped his debut solo mixtape Keep It P.I. Even at this early juncture of his career, Mike showed signs of his work ethic and creativity by shooting videos, one of which landed on World Star Hip Hop, pushing ringtones from Keep It P.I. through Myxer.com, offering to send hardcopies of the mixtape for free to anyone who requested it, landing his first ever interview on Streets Is Talking Radio, taking the initiative to link up and record tracks with Bambu, arguably the biggest Filipino MC in the game, and landing a spot on Nump’s The Gorillapino Comp. Yet Mike really started to make a name for himself when he dropped “Get Up On It” featuring Matt Blaque and produced by Traxx FDR in the middle of ’09. The track received over 100,000 downloads, was played on KMEL and radio stations in Canada and Hawaii, and was featured as one of HotNewHipHop.Com’s “Unsigned Hype Very Hot Songs”. In 2010 Mike’s hustle became all the more apparent. In three consecutive months he dropped Remixes and Exclusives, the first Clap City compilation, and The Funeral with Chariz. As the year progressed he started to release a slew of videos, including at least one from each of the three previously mentioned projects, he received coverage from Stash Magazine and WeTheWest.Com, he was featured on 2010 Bay Area Freshmen Jay Ant’s All About Being Cool (Fuck It Smile), and he leaked the first three singles from his upcoming debut album. Although 2011 is just about half way through, he’s already achieved a strong amount of accomplishments. The year started with the release of Clap City Volume 2: Clap Or Die which was hosted by the creator of The Bay Area Freshmen 10, DJ Amen. The timing of this compilation couldn’t have been any better, because right around this time, the #NewBay movement really started to draw attention and take off. I think for a lot of hip-hop fans (including myself) the new, New Bay, seemed to come out of nowhere. Yet for everyone confused about who it was and what they sounded like, they could easily download the Clap City compilations for free and immediately become familiar with the movement. He then followed things up with his debut album Dash With Me. The music from Dash With Me has been played on KMEL, and has been featured online by On Smash, Stash Magazine, World Wide Hip Hop TV, and practically all of the Bay Area websites. Mike has also already dropped 6 videos from the album, and according to his website there’s at least one more on the way (see what I mean about grinding?). 2011 has also seen Mike drop more videos unrelated to Dash With Me, go on a 7 day tour in Las Vegas, land two features on Kool John’s $.N.A.C.K., one feature on Justin Kase’s Kase Closed, and one feature that also turned into a video on Willie Joe’s Refocused. Finally, if you want to talk about taking initiative, after being named one of this year’s Bay Area Freshmen 10, Mike took it upon himself to put together last weekend’s Orientation Concert/Meet and Greet. It featured all of this year’s Freshmen (except Kreayshawn), and despite being on Father’s Day, it was packed. I have to also give Mike credit for his performance that night, because he was the first MC of the evening to not spit over his recorded vocals. As a concert goer since the 2nd grade, I can attest that this makes an immeasurable difference.

In addition to all of the above musical accomplishments, Mike owns his own record label, Symphony Music Group, directs and co-directs many of his own music videos, and has created an immediately recognizable logo for his 3rd World Hustle movement that is available to purchase on T-shirts and Hoodies at his website. There is no doubt that he has fully embraced the Bay’s history as pioneers of the independent grind, and as a result is setting an example for everyone else out there. I don’t know anything about a new solo effort from Mike, largely because he’s still knee deep in promoting Dash With Me, but back when he did his Under The Bay episode with Em Dub, he mentioned that Clap City 3 is on the way. While the release date for that is uncertain, one thing that is for sure is that if Mike maintains his current work ethic, there is no doubt that plenty of more good things are on the horizon. I wouldn’t be surprised if his name will be close to unavoidable in The Bay in the not too far future. - Thizzler.com / Matt Moretti