Mic King – iCONIC

By starrymag | August 9, 2022

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) As Funkmaster Flex called Conway the Machine, I’m a “40+ bars rapper” who rhymes over soulful bangers that sound like they coulda been rhymed over by the Roc or Ghostface in the early aughts.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

A) Earlier in my career I got a lot of Pharoahe Monch comparisons. Now, I get a lot of Grafh comparisons. I love both rappers, but my direct musical influences are mostly Wu Tang, particularly Method Man and Ghostface. Lyricist Lounge rappers particularly J-Treds and Wordsworth and a Brooklyn rapper by the name of I Am Many who I’m gonna assume was more directly influenced by Pharoahe. Beyond that, I get my musical sensibilities from people like Michael Jackson, 01-04 Rocafella stuff, mid-90s R&B and the Soulquarian stuff.

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “Made It.”

 

A) With iCONIC, I wanted to grab a snapshot of who I am and where I’m at as a person now. I’m far removed from who I was when I was recording under the name of “iCON the Mic King” and one of the things I wanted to capture is the fact that my mother no longer has to worry about me because I’ve made it. I have a self-propelling career. I know how to make money. I’m going to be fine for the rest of my life. Even if I fail, I know to bounce back and build something from nothing. So, I wanted to make a song where I recognize my mother for all the hard work, efforts and sacrifices she put in to make it so I could make it to where I am today. I wanted her to understand that, as a father of two amazing children, I get it now. I don’t know everything she had to endure, but I wanted to create something that acted as a very public thank you and to let her know she can put down the responsibility (as much as a mother could ever do that), I’ve got it from here.

 

Q) I love the feature by Musiq Soulchild! How did you come to work with him on the song?

 

A) I’ve been a big Musiq Soulchild fan since his first single off the first album. He and I have a lot in common and I can point to moments in my life where we both evolved similarly based on how his music and subject matter has evolved between albums. My mom is also a fan of his, so I thought it’d be dope to see if he’d be down to do the track. It took a little bit of work to get to him, but I reached out to my network, and we got connected to his people. We sent over the track, and he was feeling it, so he hopped on it and added his flavor to it. I really loved what he added to the track. I felt like what he added really put it over the top. For me it was an honor and a privilege to get to work with one of my favorite artists of all time. Coming back to making music after a big hiatus, that’s basically all I want to do is create the best possible music I can and make dream collaborations come true.

 

Q) The song is such a sweet tribute for your mother. What was her initial response when she first heard it?

 

A) Thank you! I actually wasn’t there when she first heard it. I record in Philly, where I’m from and where she lives. Sometimes when I leave the studio before I head back to Brooklyn, I pop by the house and play her what I worked on. When I finished laying “Made It” I gave her a call, but she was sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake her up just to hear my rap songs. Then, I didn’t see her until after the record came out.

 

We dropped at 11:59 the night before my birthday and I had this big party, so I posted the record online and got into party mode and kinda forgot about it. My aunts saw it and texted my mom and told her to listen to the song before I got the chance to.

 

She came up to the house the next day and there’s a shot at the end of the video where she’s standing next to me. I think that was the first time where I got to see her hear the song. She was really joyful about it, and it felt really good to be able to have that moment with her.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to the most?

 

A) I think the relatability is obvious: Everybody has a mom. And, I understand not everyone has a great relationship with their mother, but there are those of us who grew up with very selfless moms who we all would love to give a moment where we recognize and immortalize the love that they gave us. Many of us want to buy our mom a house or a car with the bow on it or something like that. So, I think a lot of people relate to what I was doing with this record in making a moment where I get to express the deep level of reverence that I have for her.

 

Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

 

A) There are two aspects to the video. One I’m showing that I’ve “Made It” visually with where I am now with the house, the clothing and the lifestyle. The other more endearing aspect is that my cousin Tiffany and her son Isley are reenacting a lot of what my upbringing was like. They are actually acting out what a day in the life with me and my mom was like growing up. My mother was a single mom that works in healthcare and she worked incredibly hard to make sure I had the best life possible growing up. She used to have to get up super early to drop me off at school or at childcare and then take multiple modes of transportation to get to work and then get back to me exhausted at the end of the day in a world that was not like it is today. I wanted to illustrate that and also show that I now understand how hard it was and how much I appreciate it. Having my family be the people in the video is also a pretty cool tribute from them as well.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

 

A) At my core, I am a lyricist. However, historically I overwrote and I was super wordy. I’m still more wordy than what the casual rap fan might be used to, but I eliminate a lot of that now by writing specifically to beats. Because I am a lyrically driven rapper, some rhymes are like jigsaw puzzles where I have pieces that I’ve noted here and there, and I want to pull together. In some cases I’ll write “top-down” where I have no lines pre-baked and I’ll just write everything from scratch. More often than not, I have ideas floating in my head, a few bars that I jotted down randomly, and a beat and I’m pulling it all together. “Made it” was a “top-down” rhyme though.

 

Q) DJ Trox and beatsmith lent a hand on the production for your new album iCONIC, but how much of a say do you have in the production of your music?

 

A) Trox is an incredibly talented producer. I picked all the tracks, but from batches that he sent me based on my input. I’d say I need something that sounds triumphant or something with active drums and he’d send me a batch with tracks like that. Then, I’d tell him how I imagined the arrangements. In some cases, he’d implement it as I described in other instances, he’d do it even better than I imagined.

 

Q) What tracks off the album have been loving performing live?

 

A) The only track I don’t play live is “Balancing Act” because it’s sonically darker and less exciting to me personally to perform live. I do everything else off the EP. “Made It” seems to resonate pretty heavily with the crowd. I’ve been closing my set with that.

 

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to your new EP as a whole?

 

A) This is aspirational music. I’m rhyming from a place of self-actualization, and I want people that are there to have theme songs. I want people that are working on achieving their dreams to have theme music. I want people to know anything their striving for is possible. After all, I did it and I’m still doing it.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

A) Throughout my career I’ve performed all over the States, all over (mostly) western Europe, Australia and even a couple countries in Africa. My favorite place to perform is wherever people are engaged. I’ve had great shows everywhere. I’ve had less than great shows in places where I previously had great shows. Nothing is static. It’s all about meeting the situation where it is and overcoming the challenge of winning over the crowd. I love that challenge and it’s one of the things that I really enjoy about performing.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

A)My list is long and it includes a lot of amazing musicians. The current short list would be Snoh Aalegra, H.E.R., Pharoahe Monch, Black Thought, Grafh, Breezly Brewin, Jay Z, DJ Premier, Just Blaze, Alchemist and Kanye West.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

 

A) I feel like H.E.R. made the album of the year for 2021 in Back of My Mind. I bump that constantly. It’s such a fantastic body of work. She’s such a talented musician in a variety of ways. I have a deep appreciation for her music from a lyrical, vocal and musicianship perspective.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

A) Well, I run a digital marketing agency called iPullRank, so I’m active in a variety of channels, not just social media. I think it’s important to be where your audience and potential audience is, but I think it’s even more important to show them the value of coming back to a channel that you control. So, I’m active in those spaces but it’s far more important to me to drive them back to my website com. That said, follow me on all the channels, I’m @iPullRank. I post rap stuff and a lot of information about how to make more money on the internet.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

A) Thank you. There are so many other things that you could be distracted by or paying attention to. I really appreciate you taking the time to rock with me, and I intend to continue to give you things that are worthy of your attention.