Grief isn’t out of mind for MIKE on Beware of the Monkey, but the Atlas-sized woe that glazed over the eyelids of the New York City underground rapper throughout 2020′s weight of the world and 2021′s DISCO! is slowly and surely starting to move its way away from him. Revealed is a luminescence in his latest collection of introspected rhymes set to some of the more vivid beats in his prolific catalog self-produced under his pseudonym, dj blackpower. Part of the process behind moving forward for MIKE is understanding its just that: A process, and in being mindful of that, we hear him acknowledging the hardest life lessons he’s faced head on while finding a faith in his self, his art, and the people around him right now. That these dazed breakthroughs are laid over a masterclass cool collage of R&B, funk, soul that warp into a new air feels like MIKE is allowing himself to breathe in fully with everything he carries in that heavy heart.

Highlights: “As 4 Me”, “No Curse Lifted (rivers of love)”, “Stop Worry!”

MIKE”s Beware of the Monkey is available now on 10k.

Buy | Stream