Myka 9 | |
---|---|
Birth name | Michael Lafayette Troy |
Also known as | Microphone Mike, Mikah Nine, Mikah 9, Myka Nyne |
Born | January 16, 1969 |
Origin | Los Angeles, California |
Genres | Underground hip hop, alternative hip hop |
Occupation | Rapper |
Years active | 1987–present |
Labels | M9 Entertainment, Fake Four Inc. |
Website | www |
Michael Lafayette Troy (born January 15, 1969), [1] better known by his stage name Myka 9, is a rapper from Los Angeles, California. [2] He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku d'Etat and Magic Heart Genies. [3] Known for years as Mikah Nine, he changed the spelling to Myka Nyne with the release of A Work in Progress in 2003. Since Magic Heart Genies' album Heartifact in 2008, he has been credited as Myka 9.
Originally known as Microphone Mike in the 1980s, Myka 9 was a member of the MC Aces with Aceyalone and Spoon Iodine. He ghost-wrote the Rappinstine song "Scream" on N.W.A.'s debut album N.W.A. and the Posse in 1987. [4]
As a co-founder of Freestyle Fellowship, he was instrumental in the scene at the Good Life Cafe in the early 1990s. [5]
Released in 1993, Freestyle Fellowship's second album Innercity Griots is one of the landmarks of Los Angeles hip hop. Their videos for "Inner City Boundaries" and "Hot Potato" brought them to the attention of a wider audience. Myka 9 was also featured on two tracks on Project Blowed compilation in 1994. In the late 1990s, Myka 9 came together with Aceyalone and Abstract Rude to form Haiku D'Etat. In 2008, Myka 9 formed Magic Heart Genies with J the Sarge and DJ Drez. [6]
Myka 9 has collaborated with The Wailers Band, Prefuse 73, Daddy Kev, Busdriver, Cut Chemist, Talib Kweli, and many others. He has worked extensively with producer and trumpeter Josef Leimberg, who produced the majority of It's All Love: American Nightmare and A Work in Progress. He has released three albums with Canadian producer Factor Chandelier. [7]
In 2022 it was found that Myka 9 has the largest vocabulary in hip-hop history. Myka employs over 9,000 unique words throughout his catalog.
Myka 9 is known for rapid-fire, jazz-influenced, melodic rapping, often incorporating singing and occasionally scatting into his songs. Myka 9 has said of his style: "My rhymes take the direction of a jazz trumpet or sax solo, like Miles or Trane, if I was to rhyme in the same meter as those notes... that’s my concept." [8]
Myka 9 has had a large influence on Los Angeles underground hip hop and freestyle rap in general. Discussing the influence of Myka 9's song "7th Seal" on Freestyle Fellowship's first album To Whom It May Concern... (1991), Ellay Khule said, "'7th Seal' blew everybody's mind for at least 2 years straight. People studied that shit backwards and forwards—even we don't know all those words. That made everybody say like 'I gotta get a tape out' or 'I can't rap like so-and-so no more. I can't be in 80s, now we movin' to the 90s.' That totally transferred our musical thought." Drummer and producer JMD said, "Mike was like the Charlie Parker of all these motherfuckers." [9]
Pigeon John said, "For me Mikah 9 was like Miles Davis. He was a tall good looking dude, the girls always liked him and this dude just went on stage and there was no effort in him. He was a genius in what he did. He affected and influenced so many people in hip-hop including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, that whole scene. Years before Leaders of the New School, there are stories where Freestyle Fellowship, when they first came out and they went to New York. That whole shouting stuff, they had this ingenious way to do it and they had a backing jazz band before Digable Planets. Busta Rhymes ran up to him (Myka 9) afterwards and said 'dude what kind of style is this,' and then lo and behold Leaders of the New School came out. So there's plenty of stories like that, but that's just like a taste of how potent that scene was at the Good Life." [10]
Myka 9 is featured in the documentary Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme , Where We're From: The Elements Documentary, and the Hip Hop Evolution Netflix series. He is also featured in the award-winning documentary This Is the Life , chronicling the music movement that was birthed at The Good Life Cafe in South Central, Los Angeles. The Good Life Cafe is the open-mic workshop where he first performed with Freestyle Fellowship in the early 1990s. [11]
In 2022, Myka 9 released a book called My Kaleidoscope, which features song lyrics, a detailed oral history, and photography by Brian "B+" Cross and more. [12]
Myka 9 has also been featured in the books How to Rap and How to Rap 2 by Paul Edwards, The Real Hiphop by Marcyliena Morgan, and The Yale Anthology of Rap.
(Myka 9 with Aceyalone, P.E.A.C.E. & Self Jupiter)
(Myka 9 with Abstract Rude & Aceyalone)
(Myka 9 with J the Sarge & DJ Drez)
(Myka 9 with Abstract Rude)
Regan Farquhar, better known by his stage name Busdriver, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles. He has collaborated with rappers such as Myka 9, R.A.P. Ferreira, Nocando, Open Mike Eagle, 2Mex, Aesop Rock and Radioinactive. His primary producers have been Daedelus, Boom Bip, Daddy Kev, Loden, Paris Zax, Omid, Kenny Segal, and Nobody. He has also worked with D-Styles on two albums.
Freestyle Fellowship is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. It consists of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. The group was a prominent part of the Good Life Cafe collective, and are part of the Project Blowed collective.
Edwin Maximilian "Eddie" Hayes, Jr., better known by his stage name Aceyalone, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California, United States. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku D'Etat and The A-Team. He is also a co-founder of Project Blowed. Aceyalone is best known for his role in evolving left-field hip-hop on the West Coast at a time when the West Coast was dominated by gangsta rap.
Aaron Pointer, better known by his stage name Abstract Rude, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California.
Project Blowed is an open-mic workshop, its affiliated underground hip hop crew and record label based in Los Angeles, California at 3333 Leimert. This hip hop function started in 1994 and features many music groups, emcees, dancers, music producers, and graffiti artists local to the Southern California area.
Haiku d'Etat is a super group rap trio featuring Aceyalone and Myka 9 of Freestyle Fellowship and Abstract Rude of Abstract Tribe Unique. All three members are heavily affiliated with Project Blowed, Aceyalone and Abstract Rude being co-founders. The name "Haiku d'Etat" is a portmanteau of haiku and coup d'état, implying something akin to a musical revolution or a "poetic takeover" as one of their songs puts it.
Innercity Griots is the second studio album by American hip hop group Freestyle Fellowship. It was released on April 28, 1993 on 4th & B'way Records and distributed through Island Records.
Ornette Glenn, better known by his stage name Self Jupiter, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship alongside Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Aceyalone. He is also one half of The Kleenrz alongside Kenny Segal.
Mtulazaji Davis, better known by his stage name Peace is a rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship along with Aceyalone, Myka 9 and Self Jupiter. He has released two solo albums.
Decon is a New York–based advertising agency and record label. Decon is known for their "Green Week" initiative for NBC Universal, which involved an installation at the 30 Rockefeller Center. Additionally, Decon has produced documentary-style profiles featuring Nissan Leaf. They were also involved in launch of the Fiat 500 in New York in the year 2011.
James McCall, better known by his stage names Nocando and All City Jimmy, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is the 2007 Scribble Jam champion and founder of Hellfyre Club. He is a member of hip hop groups such as Customer Service, Bomb Zombies, and Flash Bang Grenada.
Fake Four is an independent record label based in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded by brothers Ceschi and David Ramos in 2008.
Omid Walizadeh, also known as Omid or OD, is a hip hop producer based in Long Beach, California. He has produced tracks for the likes of Freestyle Fellowship, Busdriver, 2Mex, Subtitle, and Awol One.
Graham Murawsky, better known by his stage name Factor Chandelier, is a Canadian underground hip hop producer from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He is a founder of Off Beat Production and Side Road Records.
1969 is a studio album by American rapper Myka 9. It was released on Fake Four Inc. in 2009. Entirely produced by Canadian producer Factor Chandelier, it features guest appearances from Aceyalone, Busdriver, Awol One, and Gel Roc. The title of the album comes from the year Myka 9 was born and the zeal of that era. In promotion of the album, Myka 9 toured across the United States with Factor, Sole, and Ceschi.
Anthony Charles Martin, better known by his stage name Awol One, is an songwriter, alternative hip hop artist and graphic designer based in Los Angeles, California.
Sovereign Soul is a collaborative studio album by American rapper Myka 9 and Canadian producer Factor Chandelier. It was released on Fake Four Inc. in 2012. Music videos were created for "You Are Free" and "Mind Heights".
Kenny Segal, also known as Syndakit, is an American record producer and DJ based in Los Angeles, California. In 2018, Mixmag described him as "one of the best hip-hop producers in the city." He has been a member of Team Supreme, The Kleenrz, and The Jefferson Park Boys.
This is the discography of American rapper Aceyalone.
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