MIKE Couldn’t Love His City More

The crowd had already shaken off any pre-show rust and was ready to get the show started thanks to the openers. However, MIKE made a single request of the crowd before he began — to “do a little exercise” with him, asking everyone to touch their toes and stretch on his count, asking, “New York City, do y’all got me?” To which the crowd happily obliged, with everyone in the venue crouching down and stretching in unison. Once the crowd rose back to their feet, the stage lights, more similar to lasers, homed in on the rapper before he opened his set with the track “Burning Desire,” from the album of the same name. It began with MIKE harmonizing back and forth with the crowd, singing the background vocals laden throughout the track before the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas sample, “Yeah, but those flames, they’re too hot, I’m scared!” came through, actively lighting up a fire within the crowd. Wrapping himself in his arms, visibly feeling the heat from the now active crowd, MIKE ended the song with the crowd completely taking over, screaming “I’m burning” at the top of their lungs.

The New York rapper has been extremely busy over the past year releasing one collab album, Faith is a Rock, with New York rapper Wiki and legendary producer The Alchemist, Burning Desire, and most recently Pinball, alongside Tony Seltzer. The tracks he performed, however, were not limited to these most recent albums, with MIKE playing fan favorites from albums past such as Tears of Joy and Disco and Beware the Monkey. The crowd was overjoyed, with older fans singing word for word to tracks like “parkS” and “World Market (mo money),” and newer fans swaying hypnotically in rhythm to tracks like “Swoosh 23”, “No Curse Lifted” and even a venue-wide moment of unison singing the chorus for “What Do I Do?.”

MIKE, however, seemed to be the most overjoyed in the room, not only because of the homecoming love, but that this was truly a family affair, shouting out his closest friends and family who were all in attendance to support the rapper.

Despite the relentless tour and the understandable strain put on his voice, MIKE’s energy remained incredible throughout and was only heightened by his ability to control and engage the crowd, quite literally extending his soul across the venue through a powerful and raw vocal performance. A highlight of the show was another request by the rapper asking the crowd if they were ready to sing with him before playing standout track from Burning Desire, “REAL LOVE with Fashionspitta.” Slowing down the rap concert into a Mary J. Blige-esque harmony, he had couples in attendance slow-dancing and singing the familiar sample to each other under the disco ball hanging from the ceiling. He followed this with another laser light change to introduce the iconic vocals of Sister Nancy on the track “Stop Worry!” a call to the crowd to “wake up.” Getting close to the end of his set, MIKE shared his own personal dance on stage then had the crowd do the same, chanting “Go New York, go New York, go!”

It would not be a MIKE show without guest appearances from his favorite contemporaries. The artist brought out Sideshow, who performed two songs to a welcoming crowd, followed up with an appearance by Wiki, the duo performing “Mayor’s a Cop,” from the aforementioned collab album Faith is a Rock. After graciously thanking and shouting out both Sideshow and Wiki, MIKE brought out El Cousteau and Niontay for a stellar and riveting performance of “Mussel Beach,” with both openers leaving the floor shaking from the ground to the balcony.

Leading into the final song, the ever-humble rapper made absolutely sure to give a very broad, extensive and heartfelt thank you, once again, to all performers, the crowd, his family and even his merch guy, Ian. The final track and absolutely one of the most heartfelt performances, “Closing Credits” from Beware the Monkey played. MIKE, now drenched in sweat, voice raw with emotion but clear and precise, poured himself into the song. His back to the crowd at first, he turned around and repeated multiple times and with eyes closed, into the mic, “Somebody take the wheel, forreal.” The emcee opened his arms to the crowd to join him in singing the lyrics in what felt like a warm and deeply emotional thank you to his home city for the conclusion of the "Somebody Find Me Trouble" tour.