MIKE Steps Into Bigger Shoes on Beware of the Monkey

Released on the shortest day of the year, the 24-year-old rapper’s newest project is his most warm, polished and stoic.

Credit: Nuvany David

Up until now, Michael Bonema has used music as a crutch. A punctual discography of annual releases set his fans up with a steady IV drip of emotionally dense rap music. It slowly ushered in a shared belief that MIKE’s capable of curing their depression on a regular basis.

Beware of the Monkey is the first departure from the Brooklyn-based artist’s summer-solstice release schedule since 2015, when MIKE was 16. The new album is heralded by a growing sense of discipline, and not only pays more attention to delivering a clear, punchy mix, but offers 13 tracks that feel distinct and without surplus.

BotM’s stand-out tracks stand out for different reasons than they usually do on a MIKE album. ‘Ipari Park’ and ‘Stop Worry!’ are lush - guest passages don’t only untangle the scattered concepts put forward throughout, they also add structure and clarity.

And MIKE’s breathy verses no longer collide with his self-produced instrumentals, they glide on top of them. On albums like 2019’s Tears of Joy, MIKE’s vocals acted as a ship in a storm, occasionally getting swallowed up and crashing against the waves beneath them. Here, they’re a train on the tracks, driving forward separately but conjoined, with fierce purpose.

This pivot gives the newest album a sheen, and complements the artist’s renewed sense of equanimity. Lyrics like "it be the spirits, tell ‘em keep it quick and stay the fuck up out the business" suggest there’s no wallowing taking place and no time to be spared. He’s clearing the air and basking in a calm breeze, with a profound sense of self-awareness - "this not an act, you know i’m back with a sad boogie".

As to be expected, the entirety of Beware of the Monkey is self-produced under MIKE’s dj blackpower alias. Beats characteristically wail and warp themselves into oblivion, and MIKE manages to squeeze immeasurable warmth from a few seconds of a sample. Each instrumental acts as a testament to the past, an homage to a lineage of artists before him.

This sentiment can be found in the way MIKE chooses his words, but also in the hazy field recordings tying many of the tracks together. The ringing of bells mark the beginning and ending of the project, almost calling some kind of town crier meeting into order. Like much of MIKE’s previous work, the music and the supporting atmosphere seems simultaneously rooted in the past and emblematic of the present, or even the very, very near future.

BotM acts as a fulcrum in the 24-year-old’s career. This is MIKE’s eighteenth project (on his Bandcamp page, not accounting for two EPs as dj blackpower), and his prolific output has forever reshaped a community of artists and fans drawn to catharsis. The more mature, distilled finished product here gives a transitional feeling, maybe marking a shift from mentee to mentor.

The Chinese astrological lore that inspired the album’s title goes as such: “the Tiger (e.g. someone born in 1998, like MIKE) might consider the Monkey to be excessively frivolous, if not reckless… they may have opposing viewpoints.” A Tiger is meant to be weary of the Monkey, to treat it with caution.

Considering this, it seems that MIKE is focused on overcoming threats and avoiding distractions. The artist has stepped into a bigger pair of shoes, into a more responsible role. On Beware of the Monkey, and in general, much of what MIKE does now is for those around him - “for the darlings, Gs, and the hurt children…”