The BU Today Sessions: Micah

Micah recently performed some of his unreleased tracks for BU Today. Check out the videos.

You can also read BU Today's interview with Micah, here.

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

Micah Performs at Spring Jam

Hey guys,

Micah will be performing tomorrow, April 17th, at the Hampshire College Spring Jam in Amherst, MA.

The concert will be organized by the Hampshire College Committee on Community Activities.

Micah performs from noon to 12:45 pm in the Main Tent and then again at 5 pm doing a Van Morrison cover set at the Acoustic Pavilion. The festival also features dozens of other artists and performers and ends at 1 am.

The show is primarily for Hampshire College students, but if you can get out out there and support Micah!

BTR on NPR

On April 12th, National Public Radio WGBH featured Base Trip Records on The Callie Crossley Show as a part of their "Local Made Good" section. Conor Loughman and Supersillyus (Rob Uslan) spoke with Crossley about the record label and played several tracks from Supersillyus and Micah on-air. Jump to the 41 minute mark to hear Base Trip Records, unless you want to sit through 40 minutes of talk about libraries and Jewish delis (maybe you do).

A Minute With Micah

Base Trip Records' own Devondra Dominguez caught up with Micah Domingo (formerly known as Rapper Steph) to see what he has been up to.

How long have you been a part of Base Trip?

I’ve been a part of Base Trip since my sophomore year, so two years now.

What have you done so far with the label?

I can’t even count how many shows I’ve done, but a lot of the shows happened in my junior year. I was going and going; I did shows at least once a week maybe even twice, so that was really a hectic time. I actually went to California this summer to visit Conor and Rob (Supersillyus). Conor and I made some big strides over there and hung out with Rob while he was finishing up his CD. I also went to New York at the beginning of summer before California with the Throwbacks and we just played, gave out CD’s, and rapped for whoever. It was fun. It was a good time.

What material have you been working on?

I’m mostly working on new stuff. I went through a transitional period- a trans period, wow, that’s weird- last semester where I didn’t really work on music, but figured out a lot of emotional and mental stuff. This semester I feel like I’m coming out on a clean slate and I’ve been writing a lot about my experiences, transitioning, and kind of making sense of all the stuff that happened last semester through my music.

What drives you to create more work and who are your musical influences?

A huge musical inspiration for me would have to be Common. I actually had the great fortune of rapping for him. I went to a show at the Palladium to see him. I was right in the front the whole time.This girl I was dating at the time was able to get the bouncer to let me rap for Common. That was actually about a month after I performed at BU Central for my first time ever. I had never performed live ever in front of anyone before September of my sophomore year. So I was facing Common- thinking “Oh my God”- and started rapping for him. After, he was like “Yeah that’s good work, keep working on it. That’s tight.” Just hearing those words, I was in shock.

Besides Common, another huge influence is Mos Def- almost on the same level of inspiration as Common. His music is more head-trippy and you really have to think about it when you’re listening to it. You think “Woah, he’s really saying some deep stuff.” I have also been listening to some indie music like Rilo Kiley. I have been listening to a lot of emotional music – not emo- but like music that puts emotions in such a way that just makes you go “Wow, I feel exactly what you’re feeling”- that kind of stuff.

Do you have plans for upcoming shows?

I have one show that I know of: the Haiti Benefit show at BU. It’s next Sunday, but other than that I don’t have anything planned yet. I played a show at a house party last week and was a success because the cops didn’t come. It was awesome.

Discuss your possible decision to change your name from Rapper Steph to another name.

It’s not really a flip, but it’s kind of like I am entering into a new phase of life. I am taking all of this stuff that I learned from the old me and applying it to myself; it has been really crazy. I’ve had so much mental and emotional growth and I think it definitely shows in my music. Along with that growth, I need to change my name because I no longer am personified by the name Rapper Steph. That’s the old me. It was great and I loved that name and I had that persona, but now it’s time to move on from that and kind of keep going with life with these phases. I am figuring out where I am today and this is a more permanent kind of change. It’s figuring out what my essence is or what describes me. Picking a name is very complicated.

As far as names, I was going for the name Human, but it is taken which is unfortunate. It’s a bummer because I really liked that name and I felt that it fit me really well. Another name I was thinking was Micahphone since a lot of people call me that – it’s a nickname- and it has my name in it. Rapper Steph had my name in it and I would like my name in it. I’m still discussing the name change with Conor, so we’ll see how it goes. Names are always the hardest to choose because you have to have it forever and you have to personify that name.