Micah 2.0

Last time we talked you were thinking about making an artist name change to one more suitable to your growth as a person and artist. Have you made a final decision?

My final decision is my name, Micah. It’s easy and Conor said a really good thing the other night when I actually performed first as Micah. I think it was at chill out and he said, “You know what? Micah really fits you because you don’t need any of the labels or an alias. You just are Micah that’s it. That’s all there is.” I don’t need to define myself as some other name.

What is your new material like? You talked about incorporating personal changes and new experiences into your music. How is that going?

I’m working on a lot of demos right now, but there has been a lot of different music. I like it a lot because I just got a new Mac computer so it’s a lot easier to record demos and actually put the sound to something and be able to tweak it if I want to. Conor is teaching me how to use Pro Tools and we had our first lesson last week. Hopefully we’ll have more. It’ll be really cool to get into that stuff so I know what my voice sounds like and the potential is for that kind of stuff.

Now the music you’re working on, is it similar to your old persona, Rapper Steph, or is it different?

The music is definitely different because I’ve definitely grown in my music and you can tell through the lyrics in my songs. I’ve just gotten a lot more used to be being on the mic and recording myself and knowing exactly what I want different parts of my music to sound like. It’s more experiential so I know exactly what I want to sound like. It’s pretty cool.

Since you’ve been working on new material, have you booked or are you planning future shows?

I just did Jamnesty and tomorrow I’m doing Human Rights Week. I was just on the phone with somebody who works at Hampshire College. I’m doing their Spring Jam which is their second biggest event of the year at Hampshire College in Western Mass. There are four other colleges around there: U Mass Amherst, Amherst, Mount Holyoke and Smith. It’s just a giant day where everybody is outside; it’s like an arts and music festival. It’s also Accepted Students Day so they invite all of their accepted students to their campus. It’s going be a pretty big audience and I’m really pumped about it.

Are you planning on releasing a mix tape any time soon?

I know Aviator took that route and he got a lot of plays. I wouldn’t be opposed to it and I’m working on a lot of stuff that is mix tape quality because it is using borrowed beats from Mos Def and Florence and the Machine. That is a possibility, but I was just planning on releasing those tracks as freebies. I mean a mix tape would be really cool, but right now I’m focusing on putting out an album. We’ll see what happens. If I had the music for it, I would definitely do it. I’ve really been building up the last two and a half years on making an album; an album with original beats and all of that stuff. I’ve never really thought about the idea of a mix tape. It would be really cool, but I need to write a little more music and material, so that would take a little time.

You just signed with Base Trip Records. How did it feel when you finalized it?

I’m going to be honest; it felt kind of scary because I’ve never actually committed myself to anything that’s longer than half a semester or maybe even a semester. I mean it was really cool because it made everything very official. Only time will tell and I’m not going to push time. Time does its own thing. I am not in control of time.

Any new updates in the life of Micah other than what we’ve discussed tonight?

I’m in the process of getting my name legally changed. That’s really rad. It’s going to be Micah Andre. I have to send in all of my petition stuff to the newspaper so they can make it a public notice. Once I do that and bring it to the probate court I’m done; it’s legal. I’m pretty much through the hard part.

Thanks Micah,

Devondra