Myka 9

Originally known as Microphone Mike, in the 80s he was a member of the MC Aces with Aceyalone and Spoon Iodine. As one of the founding members of Freestyle Fellowship, Myka 9 was instrumental in the scene at the Good Life Cafe in the early 90s. (Timetable contains some of his live recordings from the Good Life Cafe open-mic.) As one of the most stylistically advanced rappers at the Good Life, Myka 9 has had a profound influence on L.A. underground hip hop and freestyle rapping in general. Discussing the influence of Myka 9's song "7th Seal," released in 1991 on Freestyle Fellowship's To Whom It May Concern, Ellay Khule said, " '7th Seal' blew everybody's mind for at least 2 years straight. People studied that sh*t 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 motherfxxkers." He is known for rapid-fire, jazz-influenced, melodic rapping, often incorporating singing and occasionally scatting into his songs. Myka 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.” Released in 1993, Freestyle Fellowship's second album, Innercity Griots, is one of the landmarks of L.A. hip hop, and 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 the Project Blowed compilation in 1994. In the late 90s, Myka 9 came together with Aceyalone and Abstract Rude to form Haiku D'Etat. In 1998, Freestyle Fellowship reunited to record Shockadoom. In an interview, Myka Nyne stated that he ghost-wrote two tracks on N.W.A.'s debut album N.W.A. and the Posse (1987). He has also worked with artists such as the Wailers Band, Prefuse 73, Daddy Kev, Busdriver, Blue Sky Black Death, Existereo, and many others. He has worked extensively with producer and trumpeter Josef Leimberg, who produced the majority of It's All Love, A Work in Progress, and Freestyle Fellowship's Temptations. Known for years as Mikah 9, in 2003, with the release of A Work in Progress, he changed the spelling to Myka Nyne. In his 2008 release Heartifact, he is credited as Myka 9. Myka 9 also occasionally produces his own songs. He has produced songs such as "This Ain't the Song" (from his Work in Progress), "Battle Prone" (from the Project Blowed 10th Anniversary album), and Haiku D'Etat's "Purgatory" (Calicomm 2004), among others.