Post by Adam B on Jul 19, 2005 11:10:32 GMT -5
DJ Mighty Mi Interview
by Adam Bernard
DJ Mighty Mi might qualify as one of the busiest people in the Hip-Hop world right now. The year is less than halfway over and he's already released two albums, "The Best Damn Rap Show" with Vast Aire and the latest High & Mighty release, "12th Man." How can Mighty Mi afford to produce two albums in such a short period of time? According to Mighty Mi step one is don't pay too much.
"We made the new (High & Mighty) album for $2,500 dollars," he says proudly. "I traded beats for the artwork, traded beats to Sean Price. I knew that if I pulled some favors and people were willing to take beats for their services it would be possible." "12th Man" is also the first High & Mighty album produced entirely by Mighty Mi. Not only does he feel this adds some continuity and consistency to the album, but when you're trading beats for appearances and artwork you're probably not going to have too much outside production.
One of the reasons Mighty Mi did everything he could to keep the budget so low for "12th Man" is that downloading has become his worst enemy. He notes "People post on my message board that I pay for 'I've got the new 12th man, you want it?' It's in your face." Mighty Mi continued, saying "the most frustrating thing about it, the kids who post who have it, they end it with the same thing, 'I'm still going to go out there and buy it,' but you know it's bullsh*t. Do you really want the artwork that bad? It's spreading the word about the group but it's just totally killing you sales-wise." "For Eminem probably a million people download his album, but for every million who download it four million people buy it. If 50,000 people download the album it hurts my whole sales. I've seen my sales history."
For Mighty Mi the advent of downloading has created further problems in regards to how intrusive to make the drops on the promotional copies of the album. "You don't want to make your promos on the promo album too annoying," he explains, "Vast was really annoyed that the promos on The Best Damn Rap Show weren't annoying enough but at the same time they put the promo on the Can Ox album and the press people turned against it because it was too annoying."
Despite the issues with downloading and high costs Mighty Mi still goes into the studio and creates music and he does it at a feverish pace. The blueprint for the latest High & Mighty album didn't differ too much from previous releases. Might Mi explains "I give the beats to Mr. Eon beforehand and he writes the song, so when it's time to record we basically have a rough blueprint of how the songs going to be and after he puts down the lyrics I usually add on to the beat and we take it from there."
One song on "12th Man" that was especially fun to create was "Unholy Matrimony." Might Mi remembers "Eon is actually married and this song is pretty anti-marriage establishment and we were in the studio making it and his wife stopped by the studio and you see her face when he's rhyming, talking about swinger parties. It's all in fun, she knows it's just a persona, but to actually play that song in front of your wife when it's about ****ing other girls and being involved in a marriage where they're both swingers. It's so far from reality but people think all songs have a certain element of truth so you can imagine what was going through her head." The duo finished the creation in the song with Mr. Eon's marriage still in tact.
Mighty Mi actually credits a past gig at The Source for some of his production ideologies. When it comes to the way he works in the studio he feels "it all comes from being able see 45 King back in the day making beats for his crew and I was writing for The Source. When I was 17 and I used to get the opportunity to see these guys recording who were basically my heroes." Of course in 2005 that same publication he used to work for now essentially ignores the moves in the music industry Mighty Mi is trying to make. "It's always been very hard for cats with no budgets who are independent to get coverage in those magazines," he laments "it's like 'what do you have to do?' I've got 20 albums out on Eastern Conference and I can't even get an Eastern Conference blurb. We got the Home Field Advantage album reviewed in '99 but that was pretty much the extent of it."
1999, according to Mighty Mi, marked a time when it was easier for an underground artist to get a mention in a national publication. He remembers "in '99 when Blaze Magazine were all around Eon would be on the same page for having a Bill Clinton line as Eminem, but you rarely see that now, you rarely see major label artists and independent artists on the same page. As an independent artist you're going to be heard on the Internet these days. The Internet has become the streets for the underground as pathetic as that sounds." Therein lies the double edged sword that is downloading. The internet is where independent artists can be heard, and develop a fan base, but at the same time much of that fan base is downloading their music for free. This creates an interesting question, when is support not really support?
Since he's not making his money off of his albums, Mighty Mi has turned to television for some nice paychecks, branching off and doing music for Nickelodeon and ESPN. "Composing music for them which I kind of actually find more, not fun but you can do beats for these things then you see them on TV and it's a quick check. I feel like I'm making money in every form of music except actually putting out the records." He still puts out the records though, but, as cliché as it may sound, it's really not about the money for Mighty Mi. "I'm totally not into it for the financials, I'm not thinking I'm going to make a million dollars at this point." He continued, adding "Eastern Conference has always had 50/50 deals with their artists. If I was here for the money I would have had 80/20 splits with the artists."
Mighty Mi's hope in the end is that the albums he works on reach the youth and affects someone like he remembers being affected by the heroes of his youth. "Hip-Hop's always been a young person's music, very young," he notes "I used to perform and see 15 and 16 year olds out there. The same way I went to a Beastie Boys show at that age and it changed my life maybe our show is having an affect on the young people at our shows."
Right now Mighty Mi is all about keeping it simple, describing "12th Man" as "two men, self contained, a DJ and an MC." Since that's how Hip-Hop started and inspired so many maybe by trimming the fat due to cost cutting Mighty Mi's inadvertently found the path he really wants to be on.
by Adam Bernard
DJ Mighty Mi might qualify as one of the busiest people in the Hip-Hop world right now. The year is less than halfway over and he's already released two albums, "The Best Damn Rap Show" with Vast Aire and the latest High & Mighty release, "12th Man." How can Mighty Mi afford to produce two albums in such a short period of time? According to Mighty Mi step one is don't pay too much.
"We made the new (High & Mighty) album for $2,500 dollars," he says proudly. "I traded beats for the artwork, traded beats to Sean Price. I knew that if I pulled some favors and people were willing to take beats for their services it would be possible." "12th Man" is also the first High & Mighty album produced entirely by Mighty Mi. Not only does he feel this adds some continuity and consistency to the album, but when you're trading beats for appearances and artwork you're probably not going to have too much outside production.
One of the reasons Mighty Mi did everything he could to keep the budget so low for "12th Man" is that downloading has become his worst enemy. He notes "People post on my message board that I pay for 'I've got the new 12th man, you want it?' It's in your face." Mighty Mi continued, saying "the most frustrating thing about it, the kids who post who have it, they end it with the same thing, 'I'm still going to go out there and buy it,' but you know it's bullsh*t. Do you really want the artwork that bad? It's spreading the word about the group but it's just totally killing you sales-wise." "For Eminem probably a million people download his album, but for every million who download it four million people buy it. If 50,000 people download the album it hurts my whole sales. I've seen my sales history."
For Mighty Mi the advent of downloading has created further problems in regards to how intrusive to make the drops on the promotional copies of the album. "You don't want to make your promos on the promo album too annoying," he explains, "Vast was really annoyed that the promos on The Best Damn Rap Show weren't annoying enough but at the same time they put the promo on the Can Ox album and the press people turned against it because it was too annoying."
Despite the issues with downloading and high costs Mighty Mi still goes into the studio and creates music and he does it at a feverish pace. The blueprint for the latest High & Mighty album didn't differ too much from previous releases. Might Mi explains "I give the beats to Mr. Eon beforehand and he writes the song, so when it's time to record we basically have a rough blueprint of how the songs going to be and after he puts down the lyrics I usually add on to the beat and we take it from there."
One song on "12th Man" that was especially fun to create was "Unholy Matrimony." Might Mi remembers "Eon is actually married and this song is pretty anti-marriage establishment and we were in the studio making it and his wife stopped by the studio and you see her face when he's rhyming, talking about swinger parties. It's all in fun, she knows it's just a persona, but to actually play that song in front of your wife when it's about ****ing other girls and being involved in a marriage where they're both swingers. It's so far from reality but people think all songs have a certain element of truth so you can imagine what was going through her head." The duo finished the creation in the song with Mr. Eon's marriage still in tact.
Mighty Mi actually credits a past gig at The Source for some of his production ideologies. When it comes to the way he works in the studio he feels "it all comes from being able see 45 King back in the day making beats for his crew and I was writing for The Source. When I was 17 and I used to get the opportunity to see these guys recording who were basically my heroes." Of course in 2005 that same publication he used to work for now essentially ignores the moves in the music industry Mighty Mi is trying to make. "It's always been very hard for cats with no budgets who are independent to get coverage in those magazines," he laments "it's like 'what do you have to do?' I've got 20 albums out on Eastern Conference and I can't even get an Eastern Conference blurb. We got the Home Field Advantage album reviewed in '99 but that was pretty much the extent of it."
1999, according to Mighty Mi, marked a time when it was easier for an underground artist to get a mention in a national publication. He remembers "in '99 when Blaze Magazine were all around Eon would be on the same page for having a Bill Clinton line as Eminem, but you rarely see that now, you rarely see major label artists and independent artists on the same page. As an independent artist you're going to be heard on the Internet these days. The Internet has become the streets for the underground as pathetic as that sounds." Therein lies the double edged sword that is downloading. The internet is where independent artists can be heard, and develop a fan base, but at the same time much of that fan base is downloading their music for free. This creates an interesting question, when is support not really support?
Since he's not making his money off of his albums, Mighty Mi has turned to television for some nice paychecks, branching off and doing music for Nickelodeon and ESPN. "Composing music for them which I kind of actually find more, not fun but you can do beats for these things then you see them on TV and it's a quick check. I feel like I'm making money in every form of music except actually putting out the records." He still puts out the records though, but, as cliché as it may sound, it's really not about the money for Mighty Mi. "I'm totally not into it for the financials, I'm not thinking I'm going to make a million dollars at this point." He continued, adding "Eastern Conference has always had 50/50 deals with their artists. If I was here for the money I would have had 80/20 splits with the artists."
Mighty Mi's hope in the end is that the albums he works on reach the youth and affects someone like he remembers being affected by the heroes of his youth. "Hip-Hop's always been a young person's music, very young," he notes "I used to perform and see 15 and 16 year olds out there. The same way I went to a Beastie Boys show at that age and it changed my life maybe our show is having an affect on the young people at our shows."
Right now Mighty Mi is all about keeping it simple, describing "12th Man" as "two men, self contained, a DJ and an MC." Since that's how Hip-Hop started and inspired so many maybe by trimming the fat due to cost cutting Mighty Mi's inadvertently found the path he really wants to be on.