Quinn (Mike T)

The diversity in his music pallet, tells us musicality is important. - Lee Major - Wheat City Magazine

The anticipation is starting to get to Michigan-born college rapper Mike T. The release of his new EP Shlup can’t come any sooner. Hailing out of Grosse Pointe, this quick speaking suburbanite will impress you with his rhymes and speed. The advertising major at Michigan State University has been working hard over the last year and has come up with some new music to feed his growing international fan base. Shlup is expected to be released late June and will be accompanied with two new music videos. Last week I was able to get some time to chat with the busy rapper about what new EP.

Rich Moore: On your first album, you use a lot of samples from other great musicians: Adele, First Aid Kit and even Popular from Broadways Wicked! Do you make the samples yourself??

Mike T: A lot of the beats I use get sent in from other producers, but for example the Adele one: I’ve always loved Adele. I think her voice is perfect for sampling. She’s always been a favorite of mine to sample. I think sampling in general is really important because your incorporating a different sound into your music. You can twist it around, lower the pitch. It’s really up to you with how you want it to sound. It’s an awesome way to get your music to sound unequally different.

RM: You have a new EP Shlup coming out this summer. Any chance you can tell us the date, and should we expect the same this time around?

MT: It’s been prolonged a little bit because we are filming a couple videos that will simultaneously drop with the project. I think music videos are the most important things we can do these days. We’re just waiting to finish the video, which we are actually shooting this weekend.

RM: You have also filmed a video for Butta Cheez. Is that going to be available with the drop of the EP?

MT: Yeah it is. We were in Brooklyn a couple weeks ago. We had a show in Princeton and then drove to Brooklyn the next day. We teamed up with a student from NYU. His name is Alex, and he’s super talented, so we were in good hands. He showed us great places to shoot, old urban areas that really fit that type of song. The beat has an old-school edgy feel, so we lucked out when Alex told us he was familiar with the area. Expect the video to drop with the Shlup EP and Our Style video.

RM: Growing up in the suburbs, how did you access music?

MT: I bought a lot of CDs. I would go to local books stores – I don’t know if you guys have Borders in Canada. They sold CDs there, and I only lived a couple block away so I was there all the time listening to the samples of the albums to help me to decide which ones to buy. iTunes wasn’t around back then, so it’s kind of weird that I picked up hip hop as a genre because I didn’t listen to too much of it growing up. I listened to more alternative rock. I still listen to that stuff today. It’s just weird that I switched lanes in terms of genres.

RM: Will you be going on tour to promote Shlup?

MT: We have a tour lined up in October with Huey Mack. He’s a young college rapper from West Virginia, and he’s got a big buzz around him right now. We’re doing a four-show tour, three of the shows in Michigan, and I believe the other one is in Chicago. We are applying to a lot of festivals, even an international music festival in Iceland. I had fans from Iceland hit me up and say that I should play at this festival because they highlight up-and-coming American artists. Our fingers are crossed because that would be an awesome experience. - Quip Magazine

This is the first release off the upcoming album "Shlup." Mike T is accompanied by a laid back beat has created a great Sunday afternoon jam. The smooth instrumentals and consistent flow is reminiscent of summer and worth checking out. Happy listening and Happy St. Patrick's day. - College of Music

This is the first release off the upcoming album "Shlup." Mike T is accompanied by a laid back beat has created a great Sunday afternoon jam. The smooth instrumentals and consistent flow is reminiscent of summer and worth checking out. Happy listening and Happy St. Patrick's day. - College of Music

Here’s a new MC I think you guys will all enjoy listening to. Mike T recently dropped a new project titled Old Fashioned, which will likely find its way onto our ‘Top of 2012' list. Mike definitely has some serious talent and really kills every single beat on the project. His lyrics are on point and his flow fits perfectly over every beat. I’ll let Mike T’s music do the talking, so check out the project below and download it if you like what you hear. - The Good Life Reviews