"Music is my first love, the first thing I actually fell in love with" - Mic Assassin.
Following a 6-month Caribbean holiday which turned into an 8-year hiatus from music, Mic Assassin returns once again to the scene, this time with more hunger, charisma, a fresh sound and vision.
Musician, Entrepreneur, Director and Lover of life are the words, which most astutely describe our street, savvy South Londoner, Mic Assassin. Being disheartened and disillusioned with the politics of the music industry, his time away from music was productively spent setting up entrepreneurial ventures including an independent video production company ‘FWD360’ under which Mic directed & edited over a100 projects for global brands, charities and many grass roots organisations and independent music artists.
But what is a man to do when his childhood dream and passion for creating music just won’t go away? Mic confesses: “I thought about it all the time, envisioning myself performing to massive concert venues. I wrote down everything even the thoughts I'm scared to say out loud. I’d hum melodies in to voice recorders then start piecing the tracks together. Inspiration can come at any time of the day, I just have to stop everything and be on it when it does”.
It felt impossible to escape the very thing that has been a part of his being since childhood. From the tender age of 9 rapping in school assemblies, to a 16 year old appearing in magazines like The Face and The Fader as a member of London’s most engaging street promotions team “The Militia”, to an 18 year old setting up his own record label, Mic knows the true meaning of putting everything in to chase a dream.
Inspired by the hustle and grind of US / UK Indie labels such as Roc-a-fella, No Limit, So Solid and 57th Dynasty, Mic and his team learned and perfected the art of hand to hand selling moving units of CDs around their Lewisham college campus and outside popular music venues.
In love with the art of freestyling and eruptive crowd energy Mic entered many "open mic" and Mc Battle competitions eventually being crowned Jump Off’s 2005 UK Street Battle Champion. This journey of gladiatorial words took Mic around the UK and USA where he would cross paths in combat with the likes of Professor Green, Lowkey and Iron Solomon.
The buzz around Mic Assassin grew and lead on to great coverage with live performances and Interviews on Kiss 100 fm (Shortee Blitz & Big Ted), BBC Radio (Ace & Vis, Twin B, Ras Kwame) and Dan Greenpeace (Xfm / Capital radio). His witty off the head freestyles lead Mic to feature on MTV’s Barrio 19 and host a part time Hip Hop show “Mic Check With Mic Assassin” on BBC’s Asian Network.
Now, with his renewed focus and love for music making, combining the visual and business skills learned within the 8-year gap period he is funnelling this new artillery into his new music.
With a more mature sound and reflective disposition Mic is open to all possibilities that may come his way.
“The most important thing this time around is having fun, travelling, connecting with people and making the best music I can. I’m legacy building right now, building a foundation that can out live me. I have many creative visuals, films, business ideas it’s all one, it’s all me and they intertwine with each other, but music is my first love and I’ve missed it. Now I’m back in the game, I feel like me again”.