REDEMPTION | Mikey D

INTERVIEW KB Tindal PHOTOGRAPH @ThatGuyMrrich

Laurelton, Queens birthed this  legend. His writing and freestyling abilities are top notch. He is someone that has consistently kept his skills sharp for 40 years in this rap game. He was the frontman for the LA Posse, Symbolic Three and Main Source after Large Professor departed.  Some even say he controversially defeated Melle Mel at the Battle for World Supremacy at the now defunct New Music Seminar back in 1988. He played a major role in suggesting to the iconic LL Cool J what his stage name should be. He's traded bars with the likes of Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, Kool G Rap and more. If you don't know who he is then pull up Google and do your research about the one and only, original battle emcee, Mikey D. 

Validated: How did Queens mold you as a youth man?

Mikey D: I mean, when I was coming up in Queens, man, it was a mixed block. Back then, you know, the neighbors were your neighbors. Your neighbors were like your family. Back then your next door neighbor was qualified to whip your behind if you stepped out of line. Everybody's doors were open. I mean, the kids knew each other. Parents played poker, all of that type of stuff. So back then it was a neighborhood and it was diverse. We had white. We had Puerto Rican. We had blacks on the same block. Man, listen, it was just the good old days. Come on. I was born in ‘67. So I came up in the ‘70s. We were outside playing run, catch, kiss, freeze tag, red light green light. So that's basically how I came up. I was kind of like a shy kid. I wasn't really into the streets because I was raised by my grandparents. So they were strict and they weren't strict. It was like, good cop, bad cop. Nana was the bad cop. My grandfather was the good cop. That's who raised me. So yeah, man, I had a pretty decent childhood. 

Validated: What's your earliest memory of Hip Hop, man?

Mikey D: Man, listen, I remember it like it was yesterday, man. It was 1979. Me and my man D Money one of the members of my very first group before I even knew what Hip Hop was. He hails from Harlem. His grandmother lived next door to where my grandparents raised me, so he would come out every summer. And this one particular summer in ‘79 he bought a cassette tape, and he had his brother's big radio. He brought it out on the steps and he was playing a tape and it had Grandmaster Caz on it rapping. And that was the first time I heard it. And from the time I heard it, I knew that's what I wanted to do. So D Money introduced it to me. And yeah, he bought it to Queens from the Bronx man. It was on and popping. And I never looked back after that, bro. 

A matter of fact, right after hearing that, later on, I went next door, and I wrote my very first rhyme. When I finished the rhyme my grandmother my Nana was the first person to hear me rap. 

Validated: That’s dope.

Mikey D: She said I sounded pretty good. I got my first cosign from my Nana.

Validated: That's the best cosign in the world right there.

Mikey D: Word up.

Validated: I know I had seen a couple of interviews and you talked about Grandmaster Caz’s rhyme “Yvette.”

Mikey D: That's crazy because yeah, he had the Yvette rhyme and the first rhyme that I wrote was “Kim.” I used his blueprint for storytelling and made it sound as believable as possible, because I wasn't getting nothin back then but made it seem like I was. 

Validated: Yeah exactly. I'm gonna ‘67 baby too, so I know. Definitely. I gotta, shout out the boy Geechie Dan for plugging the contact in. I had grown up around Geechie. He probably don't remember a lot of shit. But I remember growing up around him. And I remember seeing him kind of challenge LL to a battle one day and that didn't turn out too good for him. 

Mikey D: I know it didn’t.

Validated: But he's always been a staple. And he's always been a part, you know, representing this culture to the fullest man. So, definitely shout out to the boy Geechie for the link up.

Mikey D: Word out. That's my man right there. I remember when I met Geechie. Geechie was rapping on 90.3 FM. This was when Dr. Dre was on WBAU at Adelphi University. I called in because I used to be up there all the time and I got to talk to him. I was like, “Yo, you dope”. And he wound up coming to meet me up at Pop and Kim's on Merrick Boulevard.

Validated: Pop and Kims with the Cold 40s.

Mikey D: You already know!

Validated: Definitely. I have heard the story before. I'm sure some people have heard it. But maybe some people haven't. Tell me the story about why LL Cool J gives you the credit for helping him create his stage name. Tell me that story so our readers can hear from your point of view.

Mikey D:  Like I always say, I mean it was a suggestion that happened to work. It was a suggestion that did really well. When me and L first met, his name was Jay Ski. I was already running the streets. You know, I was already making a credible reputation for myself as far as being this young battle rapper. My name was Playboy Mikey D at the time. And at that particular time I had a bunch of friends like Ever Loving Kid Ice who introduced me to rap. Lovable Little B. We had Romantic Lover Snow. Lover Boy TC. 

So everybody had a nickname, right? Cool J his name was just Jay Ski. So when we started hanging out one day, he came through and he was like, “Yo, Mike, I changed my name. I changed my name from Jay Ski to Cool James”. I was like, “Yeah, that's dope. That's dope. Cool J. Okay, Cool James.” I said, “Damn, you need a nickname or something in front of that, you know, blah, blah, blah.” We was probably going to get a beer because I know we was on Merrick Boulevard. And I probably was like, “Yo, you always talking about the ladies loving you. How about Ladies love Cool J or something like that.” And from that point on, he was like, “Yeah-yeah that’s it. That’s it. And then LL came from once he got on Def Jam. They thought it was too long for the labels and all of that, but he wanted to keep it so the acronym LL Ladies Love. So it was a suggestion that worked out. 

Validated: No doubt. 40 years later, man he's still representing the culture to the fullest and definitely a icon man.  A staple. 

Mikey D: Yeah, absolutely man. 

Validated: Yeah, absolutely. I remember throwing rhymes back and forth with LL at 118 Park on Farmers Boulevard one day. And I ran out of rhymes. I ain't even gonna lie. 

Mikey D: Well, that's the thing. That's why I was so impressed with L when I first met him because, you know, we had mutual friends that would talk about me and they wanted us to connect. And when we finally met we didn't battle. We kind of compared notes. So I was impressed because he had the same energy I had. He had the same growl, the same voice texture, the cadence was similar. And we had bags of rhymes man. Like, he's just like me, he lives with his grandma. I live with my grandma. It was one of those things. And I only got him beat by a couple of months. Like my birthday is November and his is in January. We the same age, but I got him by a couple of months. So everything was so parallel with us. I mean, the only difference was, he wanted to be industry and I wanted to be in the street. 

Validated: So you've been in a lot of groups man, Tell me about your evolution as an emcee as you honed your skills, making records, as opposed to battle rapping as you came up through the ranks in these groups? 

Mikey D: Well, one thing with me, I never changed. I always remained in my lane. I never sacrificed my character, or my happiness as an emcee to be something else. I've always stayed in that pocket. Like, for instance, with the Symbolic Three, the only reason I wound up rapping with them is because back then, I used to be like a master of parody. When somebody would come out with a record, I would take his record, flip it into my own words and make it funny, like the first one I did was, “It's Yours.” I did “Your Drawers.” And Whodini came out with “Big Mouth.” and I had “Big Head.” And then with the Symbolic Three, one of the girls was my girlfriend, she was in this group. And I was dealing with a manager at the time Author Armstrong who used to own the Ecstasy Garage. And he knew Jerry Blood Rock from Reality Records. And that's when “The Show” came out from Dougie Fresh. And that's when people started doing the answer records this, that and the other. So he said, it would be a great idea if we had some girls on that record and bring that record out on the same label. So it just so happened, you know, I'm with this girl and she got a group and I do that. So I wrote “No Show.” So certain points, I was rapping on it and all of that. But, you know, that was me being me creative with the parodies. 

Mikey D and LA Posse, originally, LA Posse was supposed to be Boom Bap, that was the name of the clip, because that was the name of the crew we ran with in the street. But management thought it might not be a good idea to use that street name in the industry because it might bring some negative attention this, that and the other. But we wanted to let people know who we were and where we were from. So you know, anybody from Laurelton they know that that means LA, if you from Queens that you know, LA. Everybody thought we were from the West Coast, which is cool. And back then we used to run with our Posse. That was our clique. That was our crew. So LA Passe was the crew and it was also Boom Bash and with Paul C and those guys and Jonny Quest. 

We never really tried to make commercial records. Every time you hear me rap, I was a little edgy. I was a little harder than your normal commercial rapper. I still had that street edge. I wasn't polished because I was drinking a lot of 40s at the time. So I was already on I'm gonna keep it real stuff before keeping it real was a thing because I never wanted to be transformed into something that I wasn't because I just didn't believe in that. So I always stayed myself even with the Main Source thing. If you really listen to the song I said, “Here comes Mikey D with the Main Source”. I never said “Here comes Mikey D and our Main Source” and I'm taking Large Professor’s spot now. I said, “Here comes Mikey D with the Main Source.” Because I didn't want to take his spot. I didn't even know what was going on with him at the time. I just wanted to be a part of that crew because it was full circle. These guys were mentored by a brother that was down with my group. And I thought it would be something dope, Paul C, Yo, this is the guy that I started with. Now he's with the guys that I mentored. I thought it would be dope. That's why you never heard me really try to make a hit record with Main Source. Everything on there you can hear the battle stuff. But that's just me. But like the evolution now this is my redemption because I don't drink anymore. I’m happy as hell and I don’t have anything else to prove as far as being a dope rapper because I did that with the contests. I already proved that. Now it's time for me to prove that I can make some hit records. So I just started making records. And I feel even greater now with the pen.

Validated: That shit is so dope for real. To stay in that time-frame a little bit now, a lot of people probably don't even know or don't remember that you traded bars was Sheek Louch and Jadakiss on “Set it Off” right? 

Mikey D: Yes.

Validated: And they were still going by the Warlocks around that time.

Mikey D: Yeah.

Validated: You literally traded bars with some of the best in the business including L. Tell me at this point in your career, or at any point, you know, in your career. Was there ever any emcee or producer that made you want to step your pen game up?

Mikey D: LL always made me want to step my pen game up. My younger brother Lotto always makes me want to step my pen game up. Other than that I don't like to listen to a lot of different people. So what I try to do instead of competing with them is I compete with me. The rhymes that I wrote yesterday, I try to top those today. Switch the cadence up, reinvent myself and stuff like that. Because even with like Sheek and them, we were introduced to each other. I never knew who they were. They didn't know who I was. We met in the Bomb Squad’s basement. Cutting and them bought us together. And because I was the frontman of Main Source, we wanted to do another “Live At The Barbecue.” type of thing. And he wanted me to listen to these guys, you know. And I fell in love with them as soon as I heard them because they had that street edge and they was hungry like I was hungry. Man, we just were rhyming the whole time. And we never knew they were going to become The LOX. They didn't know I was Mikey D. It was just a mutual respect off this rap thing. Nah, nobody really ever ever made me want to step it up except L and them they always kept my pen sharp. Like they say, “Steel sharpens steel”. 

Validated: In that time era when you were becoming a part of Main Source. From what I read online, I'm not sure if it's true or not but that happened through Jeff Redd the R&B singer?

Mikey D: Oh, yeah. 

Validated: And that's the same Jeff Redd that brought Mary J. Blige’s to Puff right? 

Mikey D: Yeah. Jeff yo, he's so damn humble. And just nonchalant like. I used to hang with a brother named Mike Beasley. He's a great dude, man. He was managing me at the time. Mike Beasley was the guy that used to run the numbers and, you know, he drove the white Lincoln with the blue rag top and all. I'm riding shotgun instead of listening to the music, I'm freestyling. His cousin was the brother that was married to Melba Moore. Charles and Bow Huggins of Hush Production. So they had this office in Manhattan. And we used to go there all the time to just hang out. This particular day, we were downstairs and they had this grand piano down there. And somebody was tapping on the piano, and I'm just rhyming. I'm just freestyling. And Jeff Redd walked through. He was like, “Yo, that sounds good”. He said, “Yo, I know a group. They're looking for a rapper.” He said, “They're already established. I'm not going to tell you who they are. I'm just going to give you this address and this number. So make sure you call and go visit them.” 

So me and Mike Beasley we was like “Thanks, bro”. We ain’t think nothing of it. But we follow through the next day. And sure enough it was Sir Scratch and we met and they got K-Cut on the telephone with me. And I sent a rhyme to him. And it was a done deal after that. The next week, I was on my way to Canada. Thank you, Jeff Redd.

Validated: So after a while, man, you took a break from rapping and from the industry in general. Why did you take that break and what put the spark or the battery back in you to make you really go hard again with this emceeing like you're going today? 

Mikey D: What it is, is this is just something in me. Hip Hop is a part of me. As many times as I tried to put the mic down. It's like a crack pipe. It always calls me back. And I don't care how long I'm inactive. I can still pick the pen right back up and just go right in. So sometimes, I'm inspired by if I might have heard something that inspired me. It didn't have to be rap. It could have been a song that inspired me. But most of the time, I'm inspired off of life. I'm inspired off of experience. Stuff that I go through, I have to write it because that's the only way that I know how to express myself. Because when I was young, I used to bottle everything up because I didn't know how to let it out. But when I found Hip Hop, that's the way that I let it out. Like the first time I took a break it was because Paul C and his untimely death. We’re just finishing up our album, everything is about to hit the fan, we about to be that shit. Excuse my language. And then Paul C gets murdered in his sleep. 

Validated: Wow.

Mikey D: Come on, man. So that kind of threw me off. And at the same time, we were going at it with Def Jam, because that's the same time my brother LL came out with the Bigger and Deffer album and he had the other LA Posse producing him. Now this is the LA Posse. Like I said I wanted to be in the street, not the industry. So I'd never learned the business. We never trademarked our name or copy written our name. We just jumped out and came out like that. These guys took care of the business. Although they came out after us. And it made more sense because they're from Los Angeles, LA, boom, boom, they did all the paperwork correctly. And because they were on Def Jam, Def Jam had the machine behind them, they had Columbia. Sleeping Bag was still an independent label. They didn't want to fight the lawsuits because they didn't have it like that. They wanted us to drop our name. We lost all. All of this stuff is coming down at me all at one time. I got this new baby and all this and it just man, it just made me take a back seat for a little while. And then at the same time, the gangsta rap was coming into play. NWA’s was coming out. I could rap like that, but I just didn't feel like that was me. Like, why am I talking about killing people and I don't do that. I kill people with rhymes. I don't even have a gun. I just took backseat. But then, you know, I've moved to Miami for a little while. I was down there with my boy TC and we made some records out there. We was running with Luke and Marquis from the Two Live Crew. And the lawyer that we had wound up just putting the record out on us. And that kind of gave me a new spark. I was down there as Cordless Mic because I didn't want people to know, I was from New York because you know, Miami bass and New York they didn’t like each other.  If I wanted to fit in, I had to be a little different and change it up a little bit. So I did that for a while. But then Hurricane Andrew came through. That hurricane chased me out of Florida and I'll be honest with you, I've never been back to Miami since. That was like ‘92. I ain’t been back since man. Then I was working a regular nine to five doing the security thing and that's when I was hanging out with Mike Beasley and just rhyming and all of that. And then Jeff Redd came through with the Main Source thing. We went through all of that, things didn't work out. Because, you know, whatever the issues that management had with the label at the time, it didn't work out. And the label wound up keeping the album and putting it out years later, so I’m like, “here we go again.”

Validated: Typical industry stuff. 

Mikey D: Yeah. So I fell back. And then like a 96 or something I just said, “I'm gonna just start rhyming again”. Then I just started going for the neck and all that. And that was that. Then I started getting used to the nine to five thing. And when I was working in Kennedy Airport, I was doing security out there driving cars. And, I started working in the office for years and all of that. I didn't have time to do the Hip Hop and the job thing at the same time and drink. I just didn't have enough time to juggle all of that until I moved and came up here. I stopped drinking, I put it down.

Validated: Where you located now?

Mikey D: I’m in Wappingers Falls where they had that big explosion today. It was a big explosion. But I moved up there and I got a job, You see the time I'm on right now. 

Validated: I see it yeah.

Mikey D: I got a job that I love. And this is Pepsi. This is the real Pepsi. My position is just dope. I got my own office. So what I did was, I invested in the Isotope Spire studio, so I got a little portable studio. Man I write rhymes and my music, I got my speakers in my office and all of that. So I get to do everything that I want to do. Like with the music, my lady supports it. I don't drink. It's like life couldn't be better right now. The age that I am now. I'm way better than I was back then because I'm in a better space in life.

Validated: Yeah, absolutely. Man, I can identify man. You know, like you said, I don't know if it's still 11 years, but I know you said you stopped drinking 11 years ago. First, let me say congratulations, man. 

Mikey D: Thank you, brother.

Validated: Yeah, I’m in my eighth year. So I definitely feel you and I know exactly where you're coming from. If you don't mind me asking, what were some of the things that led up to you making that decision to quit? And what was the final straw that pushed you over the edge and you just said, “You know what I'm just done?”

Mikey D: Man, my whole thing, I was always raised not to be a quitter. So every time I would try to quit, I'd be like, “I'm no quitter, man gimme that”. And so, I got a DWI, I bought a brand new car. The day that I drove it off the lot I got a DUI. We had the car up for a while and this, that and the other. Man, I had to go to all of these programs and all of those alcohol programs. I was still going to those things while drinking too. Nothing was stopping me. I wasn't ready to stop. I tried the programs I tried the AA. I did the church. I was going to these places drinking like a wine cooler or or something. I met this woman. And what's crazy about it is I met the woman that I'm still with right now. And I don't know. It was like, it hit me like, “Damn, I found a jewel right here.” I found a gem in this woman. Like, she makes me happy. I make her happy. We just have fun. We laugh. Yo, it's just such a beautiful thing. But sometimes I get this little attitude and shit. I got a choice. And I had to think about it. I was like, “I can either keep drinking and f’ this up. Or I could keep this and just just be happy and do what I got to do. So that was the choice. I wanted to stay in that pocket over here with this woman. And what's so crazy about it is that she used to drink socially, like when she came home, she would have a glass of wine. Or like on the weekend, we go to a bar, have a drink and whatever. When I said I wanted to stop I didn't ask her to stop. She stopped as well, just to support me. I've never looked back since then. And it has never been so easy. But it has never been so easy to stop doing that to do something that I really really love. I don't look back at all and not regret it. And I tell people, man the programs and all that stuff, don't work unless the person is ready to stop, that’s when he’s going to stop. If he ain’t ready you just wasted a whole lot of money. I was definitely ready. Believe me man since I've quit I've been through tragedies man, tragedy after tragedy after tragedy with my family life but I've never once looked back at the bottle. A couple of surviving family on my mother's side will tell you that I broke the cycle. Because everybody in my family on my mother's side, my father's side everybody got they sip on. I broke the cycle.

Validated: That's dope.

Mikey D: Word.

Validated: That's amazing bro. Absolutely, man. 

Mikey D: Thank you. 

Validated: We're gonna backtrack just a quick minute. The New Music seminar, Battle for World Supremacy 1988. The legendary Melle Mel. I heard you call Melle Mel, “The Randy Savage of Hip Hop” and I fucking lost it bro. As soon as you said it, I saw the image in my head, and I was like, “That's Melle Mel bro. I heard Grandmaster Caz tell the story too about how Mel was egging you on and everything. And he wanted to try to prove himself from having the belt from the last year and he wanted to defend it. You was trying not to. You was like more like “Nah let me respect the elder. Let me respect the legend.” He kept egging you on.

Mikey D: Yeah.

Validated: So, at that point, were you kind of nervous or did the battle skills and the New York attitude just take over in the moment, and you just let it fly?

Mikey D: I thought it was a setup. I thought the whole thing was set up. I thought it was gonna be like, Yo, they want to get this belt back or whatever. And my whole thing was, I'm taking this back to LA Laurelton Queens and I'm showing off. No, I'm not battling for no belt, or none of that. Blah, blah, blah. He kept on poking the bear. He kept poking the bear. I was trying to show him respect, and all of that. And you gotta remember, I'm from Queens. I'm from the new-school and I'm this year's champion. He's the official champion. He's from the Bronx and he's from the old school. So it's already…

Validated: And this is 1988 when New York was a lot different than it is now. 

Mikey D: Right. You had “The Bridge Is Over” and all that, you know, what I mean? So what happened is, he basically bullied me into a battle because he tried to make me look like a sucker. And the crowd “Yo, Mikey. Yo-yo”. After hearing all of that, I just had enough. I don't think he understood like that battle stuff that's the cloth that I'm coming from. Right. So I'm not scared to battle you. I'm trying to give you a chance to bow out gracefully and leave this alone. Because to myself, I'm like, “He really can't be serious. I still think this is an effing setup. Like, he keep running his mouth. I'm gonna have to give it to him.” And what happened-happened.

The first rhyme he said to me, was like an educational rhyme he was preaching man. I’m like “No man this is a battle, man. ” I'm going for blood. And that's what Caz was saying, “Oh, his rhyme was better.” Yeah, but we were battling. I coulda compared rhymes with him and spit some red black and green rhyme but no, we battling. And he really looked like a wrestler man. He had tight shorts on. He got the muscles. And Grandmaster Caz had on a referee shirt, man, a black and white striped shirt. Come on, man. That's why I thought it was a setup. I said, “I’m not doing this WWF stuff”.

Validated: Oh, that's a classic, classic, classic moment in Hip Hop, bro. 

Mikey D: Word up.

Validated: Definitely. I know he walked away with the belt. But I know you ended up getting one on the back end. And you still got that today. So congratulations on that too, brother. 

Mikey D: Yes, sir. 

Validated: Give me from your opinion, one pro and one con about Hip Hop from the 80s and 90s and Hip Hop today.

Mikey D: Internet, independence, business. Because the cats from the 80s, cats like myself there’s a lot of us we basically were nailed to the cross in order for these guys to make it today. We are the ones that got all of the bad contracts. We had to go through the hardships of the business in order for you guys to go on a smooth paved road. We didn't have the internet back then. God man, if I had the internet back then …what!?

Validated: Would have been a different game.

Mikey D: These guys they make videos on their phones now. We doing this now. Come on, man. 

Validated: Yeah. 

Mikey D: I'm kind of sorry that I didn't learn more about the business. You know, like I said, L did everything that he was supposed to do. He learned the business and paid close attention to everything. Me, I didn't really care about it like that. I just wanted to be the dopest rapper in my hood. I exceeded that mission because I conquered those streets. And I went from borough to borough and made it all the way to Soul Train. I didn't know anything about no writers royalties. I didn't know anything about publishing. Yo, they used to make you sign your publishing away as soon as you signed with them. We didn't care. We were so happy to be on vinyl. I had platinum tapes in the street before I made records. But you know, I'm thinking “Damn, if our tapes is banging like this, imagine when we make records. Like they always say, show business is 10% show, 90% business. So yeah, man, I wish I would have learned more. But I mean, it's all good. Because it molded me into what I am now.  All that age and all that stuff that's dead to me. My job now is to motivate my peers and inspire the youth man. I'm not competing with nobody. I'm here for that purpose, man.

Validated: Tell me how important it is to have a 9 to 5 or any kind of job to have stability and to fund the dream.

Mikey D: Yeah, that's cool. I'm just saying especially these younger cats, man, these younger cats they still living with moms, man. Get a job. Invest in some microphones and some clothes into your brand or whatever. And you'll be Gucci. A cat like me see, I'm getting older. I don't want no tooth aches and I don't want nothing to go wrong with my health. So, Hip Hop don't have no medical coverage. 

Validated: You got that right. 

Mikey D: So my job takes care of my medical coverage, you know, I got enough time off where I can go on tour and I can do all of that too. But the j.o.b. keeps the lights on. Everybody gotta have a plan B man. Rap is  something that I love. Rap is what I love. And I'm going to do that for the rest of my life. But a j.o.b. I'm gonna hold that down too. Now if something in the rap thing comes like something bigger comes along, hey I’m with that too. But I'm always going to be able to work as well. I don't have an ego that's big enough to say I don't need a job. No, I'm not one of those dudes, like these cats around here at work matter of fact, man, if I brought this into my office, I got two platinum plaques hanging up in my office. So the young guys that work here, they'd be like, “Damn, Mikey D, why are you working here?” I say, “Because I gotta pay the bills, man. Same reason you working here. They respect me. They respect me. I take the respect anytime.

Validated: Definitely. Tell me about your distribution company Pass The Torch. What are you currently working on? Is there a new company that you're under? What's going on with you on the independent side right now?

Mikey D: It's funny you mentioned that because I just got off the phone. Right when I was getting ready to log on here, I was on the phone with Rob Schwartz. Rob Schwartz is Who Mag.

Validated: I know him. 

Mikey D: Yeah, he's also the one that you know, hooked me up with the Pass The Torch thing, this that and the other. Now, originally, I did Pass The Torch a couple of years ago. Pass The Torch was basically I wanted to bridge the gap and stuff like that. And I wanted to put music out when I wanted to put music out and I wanted to go against the grain. But I haven't been putting music out consistently because I be all over the place. You see me, I be moving. So I haven't been able to do that. So just now I was telling Rob what I want to do with Pass The Torch is I want to switch it from Kings from Queens, Kings from Queens distribution. That's what I'm representing right now this whole Kings from Queens movement. I want to support some of our older brothers and sisters from Queens. Man, listen, there’s like a suitcase full of gems in Queens that people don't know about. These are the people like me that got nailed to the cross early. So I wanted to do that for them. 

I'm also working with Herb Middleton. Herb Middleton is a great producer, he was down with Teddy Riley and P. Diddy, and all of them hit makers and all of that. And he has a company called “Moontower Records and Publishing”. So I'm working with him on some things too. And so that's it. Actually we working on my album right now “Redemption.” 

Validated: Looking forward to that. Any idea when you plan to drop that Redemption?

Mikey D: I know we got a joint coming out on January 20th, which is my mother's birthday and the day she passed away. So I have an anniversary celebration joint for her. It's gonna be like the new “Dear Mama” out this piece. And then Redemption. I'll say maybe spring to summer of 2024 the whole album Redemption will be ready. But I want to do something different. I don't want to just give the people music. I want to give them the experience. I might have to let the album be the soundtrack to the autobiography, the audio book, slash film or documentary. Give the full experience because you'll be able to feel it through the music, but to see it and really understand it, you'll understand what my redemption is. 

Validated: I'm a big audio book fan so that's definitely something I would tap into. What has been your most memorable moment as an artist so far in your life? 

Mikey D: Soul Train. 

Validated: Absolutely.

Mikey D: Being able to kick it with Don Cornelius. But this is when he was first beginning to get sick. So when we went on is his when he had weekly celebrity stars hosting the show, so I went on when John Witherspoon, rest in peace, John Witherspoon, pops was the host.

Validated: Okay, gotcha. 

Mikey D: He interviewed us and all that. Don Cornelius was there though because he was still the Executive Producer. So I got to chop it up with him and get the autograph for my moms.

Validated: That's dope. 

Mikey D: I’m on Soul Train. From Pop and Kims to Soul Train baby.

Validated: If that ain’t monumental I don't know what is bro.

Mikey D: I’m trying to tell you man. 

Validated: Absolutely. All right my brother, last question, man. Hip Hop just officially turned 50 years old this year. With that being said what does Hip Hop mean to you?

Mikey D: Everything man. Hip Hop means everything to me, man. I walk it. Talk it. You know, speak it, teach it, eat it. Whatever. You look at me, you're looking at Hip Hop. This is what Hip Hop created man. Hip Hop raised me. So Hip Hop means everything to me. I represent Hip Hop to the fullest. It's my religion. It’s my culture. It’s everything. It's everything. The streets raised a lot of people. Hip Hop raised me. Hip Hop taught me how to maneuver through the streets. Hip Hop gave me a voice. Hip Hop taught me how to express myself. Hip Hop is also my therapy when I'm down, I write about it. Whatever's on my mind I know how to channel in through Hip Hop. So Hip Hop is everything to me bro.