After an Afghani tour, Mad Mik (pronounced Mick) is ready to grow up. To Mik, a lot of rappers continue talking about childish things and refuse to move on to the next step. That’s the kind of music he’s looking to make: hip-hop up. After three years of marriage, and five months as a father, he’s ready to make that step.
“I want to make hip-hop music for adults: passionate, intellectual, emotional music for adults,” he said.
“I want to make hip-hop music for adults: passionate, intellectual, emotional music for adults,” he said.
Born Michael Todd, the former marine raps, spits, cyphers, whatever it is you wish to call it, know that this is his verb, and has been since high school. Todd is now married has a 5-month-old daughter and looking for a new direction with his music.
“My focus now is just getting back into it. I have to go back through the steps again,” Todd said. “I’ve got to go through that step of learning how to love it again.”
After five years in the military, Todd is living the civilian life, waiting on his next story to unravel itself.
“That’s the three part process that I really think all musicians have to go through,” Todd said, “Finding that passion, then working that craft, and then telling your story.”
For Todd, that story used to be heavily rooted in his identity as a Marine, but now that he’s back on civilian ground, he feels it time for him to move on from that part of his life, and talk about new things. For Todd, music isn’t something that is static. It flows with the river of life, sometimes catching snags, rocks, and rapids.
“I played guitar,” Todd said. “I was never near as good as [Impeccable Miscreants] were as far as my ability to play an instrument, but I was okay.” It wasn’t that he didn’t like, or appreciate the art form that pushed him into hip-hop, but rather he felt his full artistic potential hinged too heavily upon the others in his band. “I felt boxed in by the fact that I couldn’t express myself artistically or lyrically, because I didn’t possess the ability to sing.”
It was his late friend Bryan Hatchet, better known as Hot-Dog, who pushed Todd to become Mad Mik. The two started a company called the Mid-South String Team that put stringed instruments on local rap tracks.
“That was during kind of the time of Al Kapone, “Popping Tags” and the party like a rock star movement; 2006 or 2007,” Todd said. “We really felt like we kind of pioneered a lot of that.”
Although the sound was a bit niche, people were catching on, and the group was being invited to a lot of events because of what they’d done for that community at the time. “I feel like we were bringing a modern take on incorporating live instrumentation into rap music which is something I have a lot of passion for even to this day,” Todd said.
Until meeting Hatchet, Todd wasn’t a serious artist. The two met through a rock band named South Point, and made a song called “Raise Your Hands” together before Hatchet’s untimely death in 2008. “He was a very versatile vocalist. He sang. He rapped,” Todd said, and while Hatchet spit the cypher, Todd mostly handled the production side of things.
Around 2007, Todd started rapping seriously. At first his songs were goofy, the kind of hip-hop that makes you laugh. It was about friends, interests, comedy and fun. As he honed his skills, his music became about telling a story, and when he went on tour for his enlistment, the stories came.
“That first record, United, is about the camaraderie and brotherhood of being in the military,” Todd said. “The thoughts and anxiety of knowing that you’re going to war, and that your life’s going to be on the line, and leaving behind everything and everyone that you love.”
His time in service affected him both negatively and positively, and gave his music a voice, face and purpose. “My audience was young military personnel who would be fighting overseas,” Todd said. “I can’t even tell you how people relate to the song “Falling Soldiers” which is about people being lost overseas and the struggle of war.”
Todd grew up in a rough part of Memphis, which is part of where his music comes from. “You have to remember that it was over 20 years ago that we lived there, so it’s not as rough, but it was 981Philedelphia Street,” Todd’s mother Becky said. “My husband and I had bought a foreclosed house for $7000 and we fixed it up, before Cooper-Young was getting all fixed up.”
“My focus now is just getting back into it. I have to go back through the steps again,” Todd said. “I’ve got to go through that step of learning how to love it again.”
After five years in the military, Todd is living the civilian life, waiting on his next story to unravel itself.
“That’s the three part process that I really think all musicians have to go through,” Todd said, “Finding that passion, then working that craft, and then telling your story.”
For Todd, that story used to be heavily rooted in his identity as a Marine, but now that he’s back on civilian ground, he feels it time for him to move on from that part of his life, and talk about new things. For Todd, music isn’t something that is static. It flows with the river of life, sometimes catching snags, rocks, and rapids.
“I played guitar,” Todd said. “I was never near as good as [Impeccable Miscreants] were as far as my ability to play an instrument, but I was okay.” It wasn’t that he didn’t like, or appreciate the art form that pushed him into hip-hop, but rather he felt his full artistic potential hinged too heavily upon the others in his band. “I felt boxed in by the fact that I couldn’t express myself artistically or lyrically, because I didn’t possess the ability to sing.”
It was his late friend Bryan Hatchet, better known as Hot-Dog, who pushed Todd to become Mad Mik. The two started a company called the Mid-South String Team that put stringed instruments on local rap tracks.
“That was during kind of the time of Al Kapone, “Popping Tags” and the party like a rock star movement; 2006 or 2007,” Todd said. “We really felt like we kind of pioneered a lot of that.”
Although the sound was a bit niche, people were catching on, and the group was being invited to a lot of events because of what they’d done for that community at the time. “I feel like we were bringing a modern take on incorporating live instrumentation into rap music which is something I have a lot of passion for even to this day,” Todd said.
Until meeting Hatchet, Todd wasn’t a serious artist. The two met through a rock band named South Point, and made a song called “Raise Your Hands” together before Hatchet’s untimely death in 2008. “He was a very versatile vocalist. He sang. He rapped,” Todd said, and while Hatchet spit the cypher, Todd mostly handled the production side of things.
Around 2007, Todd started rapping seriously. At first his songs were goofy, the kind of hip-hop that makes you laugh. It was about friends, interests, comedy and fun. As he honed his skills, his music became about telling a story, and when he went on tour for his enlistment, the stories came.
“That first record, United, is about the camaraderie and brotherhood of being in the military,” Todd said. “The thoughts and anxiety of knowing that you’re going to war, and that your life’s going to be on the line, and leaving behind everything and everyone that you love.”
His time in service affected him both negatively and positively, and gave his music a voice, face and purpose. “My audience was young military personnel who would be fighting overseas,” Todd said. “I can’t even tell you how people relate to the song “Falling Soldiers” which is about people being lost overseas and the struggle of war.”
Todd grew up in a rough part of Memphis, which is part of where his music comes from. “You have to remember that it was over 20 years ago that we lived there, so it’s not as rough, but it was 981Philedelphia Street,” Todd’s mother Becky said. “My husband and I had bought a foreclosed house for $7000 and we fixed it up, before Cooper-Young was getting all fixed up.”
The neighborhood the Todd’s lived in had a lot of kids, and Becky recalls 6-year-olds coming to her door at 9 p.m. asking to play with Mik. “It was just really sad to see all these kids in the neighborhood without the supervision that they needed to succeed and be good kids,” Becky said.
Mik Todd’s life has been made up of phases, and after identifying himself as a military musician he’s looking to start a phase, passing the torch of military music to people still in operation. Not suiting up every day anymore, Todd felt it disrespectful to continue talking about those things.
“There are a lot of military artists who do that who just use it as a means to hit a demographic,” Todd said. “It’s marketable because we’ve been at war for the past 10 or 12 years.”
Todd didn’t want to exploit his experiences in that way however, and went on to look for a new story. “The new story is manhood all the way,” Todd said. Conviction and passion to your family, dedication to your craft, hard work and ingenuity, the struggles of your path don’t have to define your future, perseverance, and love are what make up the new story. “Not having any kind of outlandish expectations of what’s going to happen, but just serving the people that you identify with,” Todd said.
Today, he identifies with his little brother Logan, and the band that he’s been drumming in for the past three years Impeccable Miscreants. “Mik was kind of the same as me in High School. He was in a heavy metal band called “Juvenile Delinquency,” Logan said.
Logan enjoyed going to his big brothers band practices, and gives his older sibling more credit than Mik gave himself when it comes to the guitar. “I don’t know if he so much directly influenced me, as much as he inspired me that doing what I was doing was okay,” Todd said.
Currently, Mik Todd lives in Atlanta, though is scheduled to record in January with his brother Logan, Aaron Floyd and Freddy Hodges of the Impeccable Miscreants.
Mik Todd’s life has been made up of phases, and after identifying himself as a military musician he’s looking to start a phase, passing the torch of military music to people still in operation. Not suiting up every day anymore, Todd felt it disrespectful to continue talking about those things.
“There are a lot of military artists who do that who just use it as a means to hit a demographic,” Todd said. “It’s marketable because we’ve been at war for the past 10 or 12 years.”
Todd didn’t want to exploit his experiences in that way however, and went on to look for a new story. “The new story is manhood all the way,” Todd said. Conviction and passion to your family, dedication to your craft, hard work and ingenuity, the struggles of your path don’t have to define your future, perseverance, and love are what make up the new story. “Not having any kind of outlandish expectations of what’s going to happen, but just serving the people that you identify with,” Todd said.
Today, he identifies with his little brother Logan, and the band that he’s been drumming in for the past three years Impeccable Miscreants. “Mik was kind of the same as me in High School. He was in a heavy metal band called “Juvenile Delinquency,” Logan said.
Logan enjoyed going to his big brothers band practices, and gives his older sibling more credit than Mik gave himself when it comes to the guitar. “I don’t know if he so much directly influenced me, as much as he inspired me that doing what I was doing was okay,” Todd said.
Currently, Mik Todd lives in Atlanta, though is scheduled to record in January with his brother Logan, Aaron Floyd and Freddy Hodges of the Impeccable Miscreants.