MIGHTY MIKE

It’s easy to be fooled by the warm, inviting weather, thrilling theme parks and pristine palm trees of the Sunshine State. But
beyond Florida’s sandy white beaches and deep, blue coastlines as
seen in colorful travel brochures lies the hideous underbelly of
Tony Montana’s backyard.

While tourism adds billions of dollars to the state’s economy, the
ghetto streets of the Gunshine State are financed by drugs, riddled
with guns and managed by gangsters. A product of this
rough-and-tumble environment is Panama City rapper Mighty Mike.
After surviving prison time, losing friends to the penal system and
suffering the loss of loved ones to gunfire, Mike brings the ups
and downs of his hard-knock life to the music.

“The most important thing about me is that I always keep it real.
Rappers nowadays are talking about keeping it 100, but that ain’t
enough for me,” says Mike. “I’mma keep it 1,000k. Rappers done
copied being 100, pasted it and the music ain’t real no more. I’mma
keep my music gangsta with my own swag.”

Mike’s latest round out the chamber is highly anticipated mixtape
The Panhandle Boss hosted by DJ Chuck T set to be released late
Summer. He has already had Florida blocks bubbling with a five-song
sample disc aptly entitled The Leak and street-sweeping lead single
“D Boi Swag.” And Mike intends to turn up the heat even hotter with
two back-to-back mixtapes quickly following. One will be hosted by
Jacksonville-based DJs Bigga Rankin and the other by DJ Sugar
Black.

“The fans tell me my voice is unique by itself- whether I’m rappin
or talking,” says one of the hardest working men in Hip-Hop. “Then,
on top of that, I can ride any beat you throw at me. It don’t
matter.”

Raised in Panama City’s notorious St. Andrews Projects, Mike has
been hustling more than half his life. Like a right of passage for
every other teenager in his neighborhood, Mike was only 13 years
old when he plunged head first into the streets.

“When you cross the bridge leaving the beach, the St. Andrews is
the first projects you get to. The projects are by the beach,”
explains Mike. “When all those people come in from around the
world, people tell them to go across the bridge into St. Andrews to
get their drugs. It’s like a big circle, like a drive thru. You
come in and leave out.

He continues, “That’s what kept the young cats rich. There are
little guys at 12 and 13 years old with big knots of money. They
wake up, get money all day and go back to sleep.”

At 16, Mike along with his best friend Lil Joe caught his first
case when security officer patrolling the projects was killed by a
stray bullet. Lil Joe was convicted of manslaughter because he
admitting to shooting a gun in the area that night. Mike, however,
insisted that he knew nothing regarding the case. As a result, the
murder charge was thrown out due to insufficient evidence. Instead,
when Mike got caught up again with a drug trafficking charge, the
infamous Judge Clinton Foster threw the book at him and handed Mike
15 years.

“The judge told me,” Mike remembers, “’you got away with that
murder, but you won’t get away with this. I’m going to make an
example out of you.’” Luckily, his conviction was overturned after
serving three-and-a-half years. Mike entered new evidence on an
appeal to his case which deemed his sentencing
unconstitutional.

“I was sentenced over the guidelines and gave me too much time for
my charge…I started reading up on cases the Supreme Court was
overturning,” says Mike. “It’s up to you to go to the law library.
If you don’t have the money to get a real lawyer, you got to rely
on yourself.”

As soon as his feet touched free ground, Mike plunged right back in
the streets. And over the years, he would find himself in constant
battles with the law. But throughout his every ordeal, music was
always there as his crutch helping him through the good and bad
times. While doing dirt, he would constantly freestyle off the top
of his head with his cousin Lil Bruce (now known as CTE/ DefJam
artist Bloodraw).

“I was always doing music with my cousin Bloodraw,” says Mike. “We
both were in and out of prison. When I was coming out, he was going
in and vice versa.”

So naturally when Mike decided to change his life around and start his label Bangin Bay Records (after his Bay County, Fla. breeding
grounds), he enlisted his kinfolk Bloodraw along with two other hot
local rappers. The four-member group was called NFL (N*%%as For
Life). They dropped two well-received independent albums. Fresh out
the box in 2000, they set their region on fire with seething single
and accompanying video “Tighten Up.” Shortly following, the clique
made local history by being the first local group to record with a
major label artist on the crowd-stirring anthem “Back Up” featuring
Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys.

Like wildfire, the song and an accompanying video spread through
the Florida panhandle. But just as the group was on its way to
superstardom, they disbanded due to internal differences.
Determined to keep his followers fed, Mighty Mike started a new
label and consulting company Clientele Music Group. Under the CMG
umbrella, Mighty Mike pursued a solo career and pumped volumes of
solo mixtapes and shook up the region with the release of his 2007
independent solo debut album Boss Shit. CMG also manages much
talked-about Orlando rapper Wes Fif.

Hitting them again and again with a slew of regional hits, Mike’s
biggest feat to date is the release of three back-to-back mixtapes-
The Panhandle Boss hosted by DJ Chuck T and two others following
hosted by Jacksonville-based DJs Bigga Rankin and DJ Sugar
Black.

“If I’m putting rappers out and the people love him, I’ll put him
out. I am a team player. I don’t have to have the spotlight. I can
play point guard or even be the coach,” Mike sums up. “Now the
crowd is asking for me, and that’s what I’m going to give
them.”