JOINING HEAVEN AND EARTH
As in Buddhism or Hinduism any school of wisdom
Is a tenant that reflects the art of centering your being
As in Nagual Castaneda, within layers, readin' Vedas
Alpha to omega to Dhammakāya, anti-Kapalabhati
Breath of fire, true desire, holy prayer
That secret sanctum, a place within meditation
Rhythm of the soul often from our internalization eternal elation
Children of a deeper valley or deepavali inner light
That fills the temple of the body
All-knowing, all-bright, all-seeing, all-hearing, alright
- Myka 9, Inner Knowing
Since I first heard Myka 9 on Freestyle Fellowship's "Inner City Boundaries" in 1993, I knew that he and his brethren were something different than what was happening on the East Coast at the time. Encompassing both span across archetypes and depth into layers and layers of fertile consciousness, Myka 9's body of work (note: he wrote songs on NWA's first album...nah...not Straight Outta Compton...the FIRST joint with Arabian Prince...do the math) is easily a blueprint for how to truly allow yourself to explore the full potential, dynamics and flexibility of the human experience while keeping intact an open, joyful and broken heart. From NWA, Freestyle Fellowship, The Good Life Cafe, Project Blowed, Haiku De’ Tat, Magic Heart Genies and numerous solo albums Myka 9 opens the doors to the unexplored and asks us all to come along with him at whatever depth we can. Personally speaking he's in my top 5 (whatever that's worth these days) but I guarantee not only are most emcees not fucking with him, most emcees aren't willing to be free enough of convention to see what's truly possible when groundlessness becomes a welcome experience. I was blessed beyond blessed to be able to talk to a true living legend and listen to how he manifests ubiquitous love through lyrics. Enjoy.
A 4th Spinning Innerview with Myka 9
Justin F. Miles: For those who don't know, who haven't been keeping up, who are you?
Myka 9: Who am I?
Justin F. Miles: Who are you and what do you do?
Myka 9: They call me Myka 9:. I make songs. Predominately known as a rapper. And some people you know kind of credit us with redefining what freestyle rap is. And helping get the world to freestyle, you know, kind of like help the underground hip hop movement and you know kind of like championing the independent kind of vibration, you know? The business model for thought process. That might sum it up for the time being. Not to come up with a short answer, but.
Justin F. Miles: I get it. It's all right. It's all real. Knowing about your history and being present during that time period, I agree that you and the Freestyle Fellowship, Good Life Cafe, The Kaffa House - all of y'all were the forerunners of not just the freestyle movement, not just the independent music movement, but almost the “appreciate who you are as an individual and bring that to your art” movement. You all were embracing different styles, whatever style, whatever your angle is it was like just kind of be that. And that is something that stuck with me, you know, since the early 90s, that you guys were the fore runners of that. I wonder about your feelings concerning the idea of freestyle. Of course early in the culture, freestyle meant I could still spit a written, you know? And then kind of late 80s, early 90s getting into freestyle just straight off the top of the head, and then of course the redefining of freestyle nowadays. It's kind of going back into a written phase. I wonder if you could talk about that for a minute just to get your feelings about freestyling.
Myka 9: Yeah, freestyle in and of itself regardless of the fellowship is going to have its own colloquial meaning depending on what era. Because back in the day, you know, when you were busting a freestyle, first we know on the east coast it could have been you were riding a beat, like riding a bike. They call those freestyles too. You know, the kind with no brakes - you have to keep pedaling. And then freestyle, you know, was busting them free, like, free, right now. Like style for free. Right here right now. Not in a booth. Right here on the spot. And you know us on the West Coast, you know, we always thought, you know, that freestyle meant you rapping off the top of the head, right? But you know back then, they might've just said that was called “sky rap” on the East Coast because you know you refer to the East Coast - East Coast or whatever it was in general, back in the day, it was the beginning of hip hop in the tenants. Then hip hop grows and it gets into the music, like, you know, not saying the east or west coast - no one had like a monopoly on avant garde shit. But we just defined things a little different like for us here freestyle meant improvisational rap, like a jazz solo, like spontaneous rap, like rapping off the top of the head. You know, and then you think of written, that'd be like Busta Rhyme, you know, his were written. And you know I remember you know going to New York back in the early 80s and rapping with cats up there and you know I didn't hear the term freestyle that much. I might have heard it once on a Rakim song. And you know you had the group “Freestyle” that was back then, you know? “Freestyle kickin it, oh we're hot” - they were kind of like on some EDM sort of vibration electro funk back then you know, people would break dance to those kind of beats or pop lock to those kinds of beats like freestyle. But there wasn't too much of that term even going around. But it was defined as such I noticed in the early 90s and on through the years people would try to discern if someone was kicking a written or kicking a freestyle. And when a freestyle is done right, you can't tell if it's written or freestyle. And you've got cats that are so tight that you can't tell or it's freestyle or it's written. But it almost answers the question of does it matter? And it really doesn't matter anymore. It must have been looked at as a drill of many different drills to become a better MC. But coming off or coming off (unintelligible) or whatever you're talking about is just that, you know? A delivery, a hopefully flawless, you know, delivery. You had some people champion, you know, nothing better than a well engineered thought out memorized rehearsed written rhyme. Also there are cats who's just in the zone, you know? And he's just free styling so cohesively that he's one-take Drake in the studio booth if that's the environment and he's coming with an intro, his first verse, chorus, everything and remembering the chorus that he came with, not repeating himself unnecessarily, not falling off rhythm, base or tone. And that's all off freestyle. I occasionally heard songs like that. And you just go back and do your backgrounds. In the studio people would like a punch style where they'd learn like four, eight bars, sixteen bars and then you mess up you just punch them back. And that's called Punch style to me. Not to say I'm the freaking term maker of what this or that is. But I honestly wasn't too surprised when freestyle caught on. And there's a part of hip hop and there's a part of like mainstream society, you know? Free style glucose testers and freestyle biking in concert with freestyle, you know, as a floor exercise. There's always associations with that.
Justin F. Miles: Yeah.
Myka 9: But no, I wasn't surprised that would be a better term used to define. And if it wasn't defined properly, we would you know, take it upon ourselves to redefine it until now, where people are still trying to deal with it again. Freestyle - no one even cares if it's free or not. Does it matter if it's free or not. I guess it's maybe more maybe wow, you're just making up as you go along - that metaphorical similes and analogies, you know. But you know sometimes it was just if it's hot, you know? And there was a time people would be like yeah that's hot, but it's not freestyle. But for me I never thought I had to be just freestyle or just written. All without the other - one without the other is a handicap to the industry. And so it's good to have good written, good to have freestyle. And I'm learning you know in my advanced years, it also helps to have - to allow yourself time to rehearse, not only rehearsing freestyles and practicing, but rehearsing written rhymes, even songs that you've recorded and have performed for years, you know, once you start getting a wider, bigger catalog and you get a lot of, pieces it's hard to memorize every rap you wrote, every song you wrote when you get to 100 thousand songs. So however you know when you're young starting out or when you're really saying something you believe in, there's something to be said for rehearsal, you know?
Justin F. Miles: So let me ask, how often do you freestyle off the top of the head? Like do you practice? Or do you practice for practices sake?
Myka 9: I practice. I could practice more. You can never practice too much. Yes I do practice. I also approach it like a language sometimes when I'm with the MCs. Like, you know, you can hear where they're coming from and you know how their day was or just pieces of their reality, even when - you know it's therapeutic in that sense too. But when I'm alone you know if I find myself rhyming or at least if I'm not rhyming I'm thinking in that rhyme sort of thought process that's like your unique world or if there's something that would make a good metaphor or a punch line or something that's a unique concept or thought process. Cold hard rhyming every day? Every day, no. I don't think I rhyme every day because sometimes you've got to take a day or two off to live life. Like musicians - jazz musicians - they have to play every day - they're full time. I am full time as an MC no question. I'm full time as a music dude. But do I rhyme every day, practice every day? No. But I try to practice as much as I can. Like I know I rhymed a little bit today because I did some recording at DC, and I know yesterday last night I rhymed with Ellay Khule Cool
Justin F. Miles: Oh word.
Myka 9: And Mr. C R. I went over to Ellay Khule's studio and we were hanging out and trying to get it open and rhyming and we may have had some of that on the Facebook timeline. I was just like stroking out on my bike or ride my bike to work out or something to do over there. Maybe two or three miles away. And when I was here, like, man were rhyming for two hours. Cause I miss those cyphers with the freestyle fellowship. They were like the creme de la creme.
Justin F. Miles: I'm sure. I'm sure.
Myka 9: And with high school. You know, rap, I mean, Abstract Rude, Self Jupiter. When the beat is provided by good beatboxer or people beating - everyone at the same time, it helps for a foundation essentially for like song makers, especially when you rhyme together with people for a while because they will be like - they help you catch your bridge words. You know, words that you tend to use a lot while you're thinking of something else to complete the thought. You know, there was a time when you'd get in a zone and there were no pauses like in the trap rap style they have those pauses and stuff because then they would be like OK, so you're using the pause to think of something.
Justin F. Miles: Buy some time. Right.
Myka 9: But you know there's different kinds of freestyle, too. There's those freestyles where are you rapping slow and you can think ahead of where you're going with it. And you have those other ones where they're like rapid fire and just pure channeling. You might accidentally skip a word or you might even fuck up because you're just trying to fully capture the creator.
Justin F. Miles: And can you go there for a second because I'm wondering about the usefulness of freestyle as a tool to tap into prime creativeness or saying that differently, allowing the prime creator to be present and whatever relative self that's usually there searching for ability, or searching for a ground that isn't comfortable in that kind of groundlessness - I'm wondering if you could talk about that, the benefit or the usefulness of free style as a tool to tap into the prime creator.
Myka 9: Yeah. You know I remember yeah....Not to just be known as a freestyler but also to be acknowledged or at least try to consider a contribution of inspiring others to be open or be as open as you can be, i.e, open with your style. When you're open with your style without too much premeditation, it's coming from the soul and the heart not just from a recitation of words that ring together, you know, or statements that ring together. This is when you attempt a different language or speaking in tongues and you know calling on you know ancestral energies, you know, you might end up elongating a word which is short form singing or singing might take on a spoken word three or four. The spiritual quality starts to come through when this area is known - one can climb themselves in from warming up and practicing - their perspective's hot, it increases in my experience when you take on the spiritual qualities or higher energy quality, whether it's calling on or attempting to describe the aspirations of having more of a connectedness with the all and all, you know? The universe or God or what have you. But just the whole creative process of growing, blossoming, and unfolding is something I feel that when I'm in a constant state of mind that acknowledges that, I have more range lyrically or creatively more dynamic than if I go back and reflect on how I came off. I’m tapped in now.
Myka 9: But there's something else when you put love into it. You get love out of it. And there's always different things you can visualize that are not necessarily like hurdles or routines, but something like certain tricks. Stuff for editing, listening. Less is more, more is better. You know, just trying to keep all the different facets of a well rounded jewel of creative flow and expression, you know?
Justin F. Miles: Sure. But it sounded like when you were just talking about like less is more, that there are some principles that you apply to the art of free styling…
Myka 9: There's some good into it. No question, there's some good vibrations into it. You know, like the painter that puts down his pen or whatever or however they do with the brush stroke or the painting brush when they're making a picture. Some of the pictures are made where they put it down and they never lift the brush until they're done and they can see the picture before they even start doing it. Also like the gardens and stuff. There's something to be said for people who like deal with metaphysics and greetings and channeling sort of vibrations. But when you actually experience it and utilize it as a tool, it takes on a different importance because it's a power that you're tapping into, that you're wielding. And I think, you know, you can't help but use it for good.
Justin F. Miles: Now just like any other tool -
Myka 9: You still come on hard though. You still come off hard as an MC but it's more of an artistic sort of framework. Go ahead.
Justin F. Miles: No. I guess my question is that. You know, if like - if, you know, there was a tool I never used before, you know, there's a learning curve. You know what I mean? When I start out the tool is going to be an object that I don't really know how to wield. I don't know how to control it. Over time, of course, my relationship with the tool changes. You know, I figure out how to finesse it, you know what I mean?
Myka 9: Yup.
Justin F. Miles: And over time it’s not that I forget the rules. It's that the rules don't apply as much because me and the tool - there's no difference you know? And so I'm wondering, because that's a really important lesson and message to me to convey to other people that there is some growth as a freestyler. And I'm wondering if you can recall maybe what some changes were for you and practices that helped you to evolve as a just a raw freestyler, off the top of the head freestyle?
Myka 9: Yeah. When I was young I used to make these raps where I would just write them on my head when I first started writing. Mainly it was mental recitation. Then I would rap on the back of the bus. And I met this cat back then, this dude named Heavy. I was in the sixth grade and he was in the fifth grade. I think it was mandatory busing. You know he's on the back of the bus, the bus driver is rocking with us, you know, back there rapping and shit. This was in 1981 or something. So Heavy is like yeah, I rap too. Cool. Boom. He lived in the neighborhood but I didn't really start hanging out with him again until you know he was in junior high and I was my first year of high school. He was like ninth grade. I'm in the 10th grade. And we're once again on these buses, you know? This school's right next to my school. I went to Birmingham for a second before I went to Dorsey. I graduated from Dorsey and he would to go to Mulholland. So by the time he came into Dorsey when they changed the grade range where Birmingham was now able to have people in the ninth grade in high school, he started going into the same high school I went to for a while. So of course we'd meet and we were rhyming. And I meet his friend. They already had a group. And so I had to battle somebody to get into their group. Or better yet it was like I battled some one from their group and they kicked him out and invited me to come in or something like that.
Justin F. Miles: Damn.
Myka 9: His name is (unintelligible). Cool dude. And there were some other MCs. My friend had some other friends who were older than me that went to high school. His name was Miland. He also went by the name Dinero and he had a couple of other little names. But we would walk around with our rhyme books. You know, so subway art and graffiti artists have their books. We'd have our books. So by the time I started hanging out more with Acey (Aceyalone) - at that time he was like AC Hollywood he changed his name to Acey. And teaspoon before teaspoon changed his name to Maniac and Iodine, we had Teaspoon and Acey and it would be Mike - Microphone Myk. That was my little name back then. We would sit around the table because we all at that point - like when they were like I know how to beat and rhyme too, like a lot of cats can't rhyme or freestyle and keep beat with their chest or beat on the wall at the same time. So I know Acey could do that, spoon could do that, I could do that. But they had already had their workshops or ran their drills. So I was kind of new into their drill, which was keep the same beat and try to keep it cohesive. Keep the same subject matter while you're flowing and the same rhyme pattern, all while you're freestyling at the same time. So that was a challenge. So I would fuck up and they would stop and get mad because why? I fell off the beat. Or why? I fell off the rhyme pattern. Or why? I'm like dude, I'm beating and I'm rhyming. What's the problem? Oh you forgot the subject that we were talking about, you know?
Justin F. Miles: (Laughter.)
Myka 9: So those days helped me develop the idea of drilling as well as taking it more serious than I already was taking it as an art and craft and other people took it seriously too. And you see how these skills increase. It got to a point where I went into a zone, im rhyming with Acey, and we're both both freestyling and in most cases it becomes a cacophony when two people rap at the same time, or if they won't let the other speak or whatever. But in this case we were only able to do it for the longest I think it was maybe eight bars, but it was the weirdest thing where me and this good brother Acey - AC Malone were freestyling at the same time and we're saying exactly the same thing.
Justin F. Miles: No shit.
Myka 9: I was like does he know what I'm saying? What I'm going to say? How the fuck do I know what he's going to say? Other than maybe an intuitive nature of how words and consonants roll against each other maybe just even kind of because I was looking at him. He was looking at me. Maybe we were looking at other's mouth for a minute to see what kind of words would form that may have gave way, but I just knew we're doing it and it's so fucking weird bro. We were rhyming and freestyling at the same time, saying the exact same thing. It was great. And it's a little different than to hear somebody rhyming and they have a couple words that lead up to a statement when you already know what they're going to more than likely rhyme that with and you say it. You know, come on man. Come on like barring it out or whatever. This is something different. And if you end up talking to him, he will attest to that. So those were like levels of reading dictionaries, reading crossword puzzles, doing crossword puzzles, you know, those built in metaphorical similes and things like that. Looking up synonyms, first person to third person, other aspects of writing - novels, short stories, screenplays. What else would help not only to freestyle but just the writing and MCing in general? Not flashcards, but different languages would help. Catch phrases, quotes are like full wells of wealth. That's why I get to the point where it's like a challenge to not utilize any of those things that you would use as a tool or drilling in your professional rap career because it's almost like a cheat. It's just so easy. It's like a wealth of material. And so many different things. I'm talking about no piracy, no plagiarism, but just approach. Scrabble - word games in general.
Justin F. Miles: When did you transition from that style early on with Acey and teaspoon into kind of - I don't know, your words began to kind of invade you know micro spaces, you know what I mean? And I've heard you describe your styles almost like a jazz artist or a saxophone player. When did that start for you? How did you transition into that?
Myka 9: Well you mixed the jazz with the dance off in the 80s and a fusion so far as how the vocalist or the deejays were doing it, it seemed like a lot of convolution to me. You watch how people react to the tension or release of those kind of notes, you know, is excessive. And then the challenge was trying to have a more unique way of using the syllablization you know, like jazz like in real words.
And you know not trying to sound like an auctioneer either. You know you don't want to sound like an auction block. I mean, you know you kind of come across this style, just repeat it and you could put a little bounce on it and you'll be different. So I remember this and I rolled my head, I ended up using part of that with Mike, Aaron and Eddie. And it was just a different version of this because chorus wise that was Mike and Eddie. And it was Mike and Eric who was peaceful and Eddy. Abstract heard about the song and started to cover it. And then in homage to that era I used one of my first raps to record on Mike Aaron and Eddy.
Justin F. Miles: I love Mike Aaron and Eddie man. That is one of my favorite jams.
Myka 9: Mm hmm. But on the song that I have called Life or death with Eddie, that was one of my very first shock raps that I memorized. And I worked that up with the chorus. Where you were really good. But I'm just like (vocalizing), you know, all that stuff. You know it was the 80s man. So I just brought that back out in the year 2000 when I did that. My mom was a talker. She made everything into a song. She came home with that energy and my father you know I remember being two years old you know maybe three or four years old seeing stars if I didn't keep time. He wanted me to play jazz with him so he can keep his time. And we ain't talking about no funk time, we're talking about the jazz time. My mom played keys and sang, so I'm hearing that. They bopping all over the place. And then all my close friends started going back to New York in the 80s. I want to shout out my good bro Duane Earl, also known as Cool D or Don Jaguar. Took me to New York for my first time and that was when I was becoming more and more familiar with underground basement culture. You know, he'd been flipping mics since the 60s. And infusing that in my jazz roots brought me to that style. And there were many different ways to do the rapid fire delivery as we know now, maybe different micro chops and pockets. So I don't think just because someone's rapping fast they're bitting my style, If they feel what I say or anything. I don't take any of the credit. I just give it to the all mighty.
Justin F. Miles: I feel you. At the same time, brother whether anyone recognizes it or not, you are the father of a lot of styles. You know what I mean? I mean, at this point you're almost like the grandfather.
Myka 9: Whoa whoa whoa.
Justin F. Miles: You're almost the grandfather of a lot of sounds you know what I mean.
Myka 9: So old - old. I remember back in the day. Back in the 80s. (Laughter).
Justin F. Miles: It's true man. You know you may not get your props, but I'm telling you that real heads that have been around long enough that really study the art, study the culture, you know we know, you know what I mean? We've seen everyone come after and you know I don't remember a style like yours before there was you, you know? And of course there are the branches off of the tree of hip hop and the tree of language in general. But you're like - you're your own branch, You know what I mean? And you've got some other branches that come off of your branch
Myka 9: Thank you.
Myka 9: I woke up today thinking about Rakim. I was like thinking about one of his songs. I don't know which one is it. The purified freestyle, you know? I think I'm going to do follow the leader. I was like god, this is so tapped in. He's only got to be a couple of years older than me. We've got some young kids just branching out, man. Branching out. L.L. Cool J - branching out. Groups stretchin out. I get to to kill the speaker open up for Grandmaster Caz. That's going to be an honor.
Justin F. Miles: Hell yeah. That’s whats up. Caz!? Hell yeah!
Myka 9: So when you think about like - probably listen to like - or read from Jack Kerouac poetry, Allen Ginsberg or something because I used to like the coffeehouses you know. All of that in New York and out here it was like a lot of coffeehouses before we had the Good Life Cafe. And it was after like radios started to close you'd go there and rap and hang out with the artists. But it was more like universal then because they were doing graffiti. They were breakdancing and they were rapping. And doing all this stuff, right? Whereas you know, open houses - I was able to cater to my rap. And I rapped because it was cool and slam poetry was a little thing that you did in the 80s and coffeehouses because they had open mics. And we realized in sort of the late 80s when I'm talking about the Good Life, then it was like OK, there's a place where other MCs are coming so you're being appreciated for that more. Like if you're rapping, you're not doing spoken word. You're not singing. You're rapping. You're rhyming. And then people can appreciate you coming through with a song you memorized with a concept, then at the end they were grounded up, what are you going to do with that beat? And everybody used to do a freestyle and you know term blow up. You know that just magically came. Like he blew up. You were performing right for the blow up. That blow up is synonymous with an era too when everything was kind of hype back then, kind of that kind of energy, whereas the youth, at least in the last few years, I don't see as much energy. You know, I may like this person a little bit, but a lot of the youth, they seem a little sedated when they turn up. You know, they're still on that main bounce that we were on in the 80s and early 90s. They have a different subject matters, different culture. Granted there's a lot more money involved. But you know they seem so sedated. I don't see as much hype. You know I miss some of the hype. Now I have to admit, some of the young kids are wearing those hairstyles high-top fades out there.
Justin F. Miles: Sure, it's all coming back man. Aesthetically you know what I mean, I see a lot coming back. But I wonder if that hypeness or that energy - that raw energy - was linked back in the day to values; Hip hop cultural values that we held that were flexible but in a certain sense it was like, no. We respect the art form and respect the culture. We respect ourselves. We respect people. It was almost like you knew that you had been inducted into a lineage that included not just the hip hop artists that came before you, but jazz artists, funk artists and rock artists. You know, there was much more of a respect for the lineage of what came before. And the value that allowed hip hop to maintain some sense of self respect. And so I'm wondering - you remember of course in the 90s - it might have been around the mid 90s - where shit wasn't wack anymore. It was, well, you’re hating. You couldn't call shit wack anymore. You couldn't say it was wack- it stopped being the criteria for something. And if you started talking about I don't like this, I don't like that it was yo, why are you hating? Let that man get his money. Let that man do his thing. But I was like yo, it's not that I'm hating. It's just that shit is wack.
Myka 9: There's a certain aspect of preserving the integrity of the culture, that's all.
Justin F. Miles: Exactly. So I'm wondering if that's a part of what it is. You know what I mean? And what values, if any, do you adhere to?
Myka 9: Well I held on as long as I can. I've had my years from partying to eating meat. At one time I was vegetarian and I was straight-edge. So then it was like levels of being more judgmental of other MCs, yeah. Because I like to battle more. It was a learning lesson - a learning moment. But I'm not really into battle world like that anymore. You know and then as a budding musician myself, rap got me more into music. You know my parents were musicians and stuff. The school didn't have it. So when you're younger you want to have your own generational thing different from your parents sometimes. Sometimes people embrace what their parents do. And we embrace a lot of what our parents are about, which is why a lot of Fellowship records have a jazz influence and my rap has those influences, from reggae to jazz. And you know different polyrhythms and stuff and time signatures.
Myka 9: It's interesting because I would say that the youth - they appreciate certain aspects but there was a divide. And I don't know if the divide was more along the lines of the hater thing that you were saying but I agree with that, also combined with something more covert you know against our people. And then there's just the general things like sex drugs violence - how shit like that sells and we're a certain piece of that entertainment pie, demographically speaking. And people become more and more desensitized as the years progressed because of the advent of the Internet and being exposed to things. So it might take a certain more sensationalism like production value in videos or hot lines lyrically, you know, because I can kind of look at how certain artists you know eclipse other artists' careers just by certain moves they made within the machine of how the music is released or who they're banging or who they're freely associated with and the nepotism and such. Or the length of the lyrics and the beat or how it comes in after this or that hit - the formulaic approach of making music and records. But for now I think for the last 20 plus, 25 years more 30 years, we will probably be more concerned with you know doing it for personal sustenance, for spiritual sustenance. I feel not right. I get a little edgy if I haven't rhymed or haven't recorded. You know, it's part of my DNA now.
Justin F. Miles: So I'm glad that you went there because I wonder about the usefulness of MCing and free styling as healing, that if we're not using the elements to bring us to love then we're ultimately missing the point. Can you talk about using MCing and free styling to cultivate healing and the potential larger benefit to the world.
Myka 9: Well, I know creatively when I put love into it I get love out of it you know? More than just what I've imagined as far as the implications. As far as being a cool pastime for the kids. You know you don't need a court. You don't need any equipment. You don't even need a ball. You can just get together and pass the time. And so far as - that was a good question.
Justin F. Miles: (Laughter).
Myka 9: That was a good question. What was the question again?
Justin F. Miles: (Laughter). Can you talk a little bit about -
Myka 9: Oh yeah. I got you. It's like I'm saying, you know, you got to send love to the mind sometimes. It's all love. But then cats can get preachy. Cats kind of regurgitate whatever's going on in current events in the news, building careers and platforms off of that. You know sharing the rage or the not-so-silent minority you know, but encouraging love, what I would do - on almost every project I always kind of sneak the love in there. You can go all the way back to like - I don't know if it was 5 o'clock or (unintelligible) maybe or even bullies of the block when I go it's all love and it's my game plan. I’m always like just trying to keep the love in there. I did that project it's all love, you know, songs like that. You know I might just say it as an opening to a song or something when closing a show or something that people say - or try to inspire them to say it's all love or when I'm hanging out with people after a show and before a show you know and just kind of put love into it. It kind of helps my swag and you send love to a room, the love coming back helps you acclimate, helps to ground out, helps you sleep. I just send love like I'm counting sheep I just jam “it's all love”, like in Buddhism. Just it's all love. And then the eye gets closer. And then you become the eye like the I in I. And you know kind of heavy stuff. Dropping all the fakers of the ages and all the other artists and from amun ra to sun ra, you know?
Justin F. Miles: And can you talk for a minute about kind of that eye or I and I? You said there's an I that kind of approaches and gets closer? What is the eye gets closer?
Myka 9: It's not like the eye that one might imagine in an Alex Grey painting or in DMT. It's more like a symbolic eye like a sphere or a circle that has no special qualities but as it gets closer because I meditate all the time and I just saw this eye. You know the eye is everywhere. I see eyes in almost everything. We just do that linearly thinking trying to form patterns and structures. In the inner eye case, in meditating, the eye gets closer and close so big it's right in my field of vision, you know? It's actually like an eye, you know? If I blink both of my eyes at the same time it's like one eye blinking from corner to corner like a Cyclops. And that's like you meditate more and you discover I am the eye. I like to imagine at least you know it's all about awareness and consciousness and being in that zone. So I'm not always there. I ain't no saint, but it definitely feels good on the positive, creative vibrations. The Eye of Horus. It's always the system of about the eyes. The eyes have it.
Justin F. Miles: Are there any other practices you engage in? I know you brought up this meditation.
Myka 9:: Oh I do. I do everything in meditation you know. You know, in a meditative state of mind, when you're being creative or not. But I find being creative certainly comes close to - creative is light. You know? You're definitely like in the process or part of the flow of being a creator on through. The reason why? I definitely respect the face of the world. You know, I know love is a common denominator in a lot of faiths. And the greatest practice is just sending the love, kind of like dressing the romantic aspect of it. But I guess you know just love, and it just helps me out, you know? I look back at an argument with somebody - it's not that I used my conflict resolution skills, it's like I'm sending that person some love and feel some love coming back. Are you coming from the heart and that heart space? And it's just like, nah, you're just trying to get your point across. So you know you've got to kind of go back and you've got to rewind. Remind yourself to rewind yourself to find yourself. Something like that. Remind yourself to rewind yourself to find yourself. Something like that. I just thought it was a cool thing.
Justin F. Miles: That's a good one right there. So let me ask you how do you rewind yourself to find yourself? -How do you interact with or engage with your ego when you're MCing or when you're writing? What's the interplay?
Myka 9: You got to keep the ego in check. You've got to have a certain bravado, a certain moxie you know, a certain self-confidence. But you've got to keep it in check. You know sometimes you got to save it for the stage. When you're having Thanksgiving dinner with your family and friends, you know, you've got to remind yourself to be humble and kind of just be like Mike, you know, not Myka 9:. Today those rappers out there get millions and millions and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whether you're making a lot of money or no matter how dope your song is or isn't, it's just always better to be kind of humble in that regard. Keep your ego in check by being humble and also realizing that ego deals with lower self or higher self and things of that nature. You're not bound by it. But then on a more communal aspect, you know, you want to think globally not locally. Just levels of awareness, chakras. Ego can get in the way and the ego can help you. Sometimes you walk in a room, you kind airbox yourself. You know if you're too humble sometimes they'll walk all over you. You know, it's not like - it's not eating humble pie. It's just kind of like being aware of the ego kind of helps to keep it in and keep it from going overboard and getting wild. It's a constant thing to try to catch yourself with the ego.
Justin F. Miles: What's ultimately good about MCing?
Myka 9: So much good. it's like when you're doing it, and you didn't know if it was going to catch on that much around the world when you're a kid, it's like wow. This is how I pick my boogers. You know, picking boogers. But you know, who'd think that the unique way I pick my boogers would be a trending culture, you know? And so I've had experiences like that. And, you know, people have indicated that I knew I was right because back in the day people thought my approach was wack. Even my closest friends told me straight up that style was wack. And I'm like OK, but I'm going to keep doing it anyway. Now that you think it's wack, ok. Cool. I'm gonna keep doing it. I'm going to keep doing it because now I know I've got my own style, my own shit. Be different, you know? Kept that running for a while and I was like ok, they like that style. Come in with another style. They like that, come up with another style. Everybody is like it's about being versatile with the style. OK. And using different tracks and, you know, the more theoretical approach to music - it's better to be versatile. You approach the many different ways in the creative process. It's more than just writing a line or recording or punching in. It's free word association. It's stream of consciousness flow, storytelling you know? Patterns - is it cohesive with the title of Wild Style? All kinds of stuff.
Also what's good about MCing - it pays bills. You share the love with other people. You realize that your ears are really your best instruments and other people's ears are similar to yours, you almost have family without even meeting them. You go from the fanships to the friendships to family. And the good that comes with that - the traveling, the food, the education 'cause you know when you don't want to be redundant on the subject matter like you treat your rhymes like term papers. Like you do research papers. You load it up with knowledge that you get the linguistic ability to be able to talk to people, social skills, you know, things of that nature have helped me a lot. I used to have a lisp. I had a little bit of a speech impediment when I was a kid. I used to have asthma too. And you know it helped me with that. I'm sure the herb probably helped too though.
Justin F. Miles: A little bit. (Laughter)
Myka 9: People I've met through the years and they've helped me appreciate other arts and other mediums just that certain camaraderie. Just looking at life as art. And, you know, tapping into so much knowledge. Fibonacci sequences, platonic solids - this different stuff I probably wouldn't have thought about if I was maybe in some other sort of vibration or hobby or art. I don't know.
Justin F. Miles: Any advice for anyone that's looking to grow in self awareness, other awareness, or in global awareness through MCing or through free styling - is there any advice you would give to those folks?
Myka 9: Stay woke. Stay open. You'll be surprised. Your heart might say the darndest things. You know, when you can let it flow and let it go you can impart some knowledge on yourself. I would say some of the things that I need to do just to maintain levels that I know I'm kind slacking on is reading more. I mean, not reading in the sense like if you read every day, I'm sure articles, op eds, but more reading more of the classics, things of that nature, finding different ways to use words and innovative ways to flow. Not just your typical 16 bar 8 bar choruses. You need arrangements and just stay flexible. And I think that you should encourage young artists, whether they're kind of wack but if they have heart and spirit, and you know, try to encourage them and spur them. To have their own voice in a way where they don't just keep your voice, you know? That's what I would do. That's not my style. I try to encourage people to find their own style and take that to a degree of difficulty of where it's respected as its own craft.
Justin F. Miles: Thank you, brother.
Myka 9: Thanks for taking the time man to call me up. This is good for me too. Very good - therapeutically very good.
Justin F. Miles: No doubt man. Thank you for sharing these lessons with other people.