MK on Detroit House, Going Viral, and How Ibiza Changed

Transcript

Bobby: MK, what's going on? How are you, brother?

MK: I'm good.

Bobby: Welcome to Miami, dude.

MK: Thank you, man.

Bobby: Nice and humid.

MK: Yeah, it is nice and humid, but everywhere else in the country is a little chilly. Except LA.

Bobby: LA was wet last week.

MK: Really? That's pretty surprising, it's usually dry over there.

Bobby: Yeah, it's dry now. And you grew up, you're from Detroit, right?

MK: From Detroit.

Bobby: So you're used to cold weather.

MK: Yeah, used to the fall having snow and winter having snow, but now in LA, I don't have any snow.

Bobby: Well, that's a blessing. Us neither, over here, but the summertime, bro, let me tell you, it's [...].

MK: I'm never here in the summer, as you shouldn't be. I was here once, I was working with Pitbull a few years ago and I stayed, he flew me out in August for a couple weeks.

Bobby: Nice.

MK: But it was dead here though.

Bobby: Really? Well, August, yeah, it's dead until like October usually, that's when it picks up again.

MK: It was kind of dead and hot.

Bobby: Yeah, May until October, everyone's going to Europe, everyone's going to Ibiza, everyone's going to the South of France. No one in Miami is really from here, to tell you the truth, a lot of people have migrated, like myself, and then when it gets too hot they bail. I thought it was hot during Miami Music Week.

MK: Oh, yeah.

Bobby: Dude, I saw you not playing, I saw you at Factory Town one night, you were just doing your thing, chilling.

MK: Yeah, I was there rough one day. I was in the green room in the back, where the couches are. I was there with my girlfriend and her friends, and they all were out, I slept the whole time on the couch. People were walking in like, "Is that okay?" I was like, "Man, I'm too old for this."

Bobby: Bro, I actually saw you, dude. I went to college at Arizona State, and I saw you in Scottsdale, Arizona one time at a club, not playing, just chilling, back in 2018.

MK: Oh yeah.

Bobby: I think it was Maya.

MK: Sounds about right.

Bobby: So that's probably when I lost my wallet. If you found MK's wallet, give it back to him.

MK: Well, I replaced everything inside of it.

Bobby: It makes sense, bro. Yo, I want to talk about you. Right now I know that Dior actually hit number one on UK radio this past year, which is sick, so congratulations on that, by the way.

MK: Thank you. It was actually a UK chart, it wasn't radio, it was the official chart.

Bobby: The official chart for the UK, okay. I saw that song everywhere, that was actually one of the most played out songs in dance music this past year.

MK: Yeah, it had a nice run.

Bobby: Did really well. And you collabed on that track with Crystal, right?

MK: Yeah, I feel like she was coming off a hot streak, because of the days, like The Days got released and then Notion remixed it. I got in at the exact right time. We have another one too that we're doing.

Bobby: Oh, no way, when do you plan on releasing that?

MK: Next summer, this summer, we'll see, hope so.

Bobby: Yeah, we love that, dude. So what were your musical influences early on in your career, that progressed to?

Early Influences and Learning to Produce

MK: Early on, when I first started to make music, it was probably alternative, new wave, that was my thing, and Prince, that whole vibe, anything that used synthesizers, because in the 80s and 90s, that's when drum machines and synthesizers became a thing. I was probably more interested in using those than making music, and then once I started to learn how to use them, I was like, oh, I guess I should make music.

Bobby: Yeah, that makes sense. What was the first program, or whatever, that you started really making music on?

MK: I wasn't using a computer yet, so I was using sequencers. Most of the companies, like Roland, Yamaha, Akai, they made sequencers where you connect the synthesizer via MIDI through the sequencer and record parts there. There was no screen, nothing like Ableton, you couldn't just take a part and move it around. You had to build it from scratch, which taught me how to really produce, I don't want to say properly, but it taught me how to produce from the ground up. I can go in a room with no computer and come up with a song.

Bobby: So today's kind of like child's play for you, using all the tech.

MK: No, I mean, it's a different way of doing it. You still have all the things in front of you to make a hit record or a good song, so it's really up to you to do that. The other part is just tools, how you use a tool doesn't make you a good producer or not.

Bobby: Absolutely. You've seen the different progressions of house music and dance music in general, from the 90s to the 2000s underground to the 2010s festival type of songs, until now. What are the different trends, the major changes and shifts you've seen in dance music culture, and just the fan side, from the beginning?

Detroit, New York, and the Underground House Scene

MK: Say the early 90s, late 80s, I wasn't really going out in the late 80s, I wasn't really old enough yet. But that's when house music started to become a thing, 88. I remember going to clubs, I was maybe 15, and there were a lot of gay clubs in Detroit, and a lot of the gay clubs were the only ones that played house music. We would go and listen to the music, and the music was crazy, like nothing you ever heard, because it was all stripped down to the point I was like, "What is this music called?" There was no name for it yet. It was just a kick, a clap, and a bassline, and small vocals could be the whole track. But the whole crowd had the whole crowd going crazy. I didn't like it at first, I'm like, this is beneath me, because I was learning how to produce big synth songs and new wave music, and this song only has four tracks in it. But I started to understand it, and once you understand it, you understand why people like it and why it moves people, and that's why the kick drum in a 4/4 pattern hasn't changed in 40 years. It just works, and you build around it.

Bobby: No doubt.

MK: And from that point is when I started to understand and love house music, and it was the underground house music I loved. Actually, when house music started, it was all underground, there was nothing commercial about it at all. That's when I figured out that's what I love. I was a teenager, a little bit of a rebel, I don't want to hear anything that's on the radio, I want to make something that's gritty and dirty, and that's where I started. And then I moved to New York, and New York took that to another level, because house music there was a whole other beast.

Bobby: What were the hot clubs, or the scene there?

MK: Sound Factory Bar, and anywhere Masters at Work played, Todd Terry, Roger Sanchez, they just ran it, and I would go out a lot and became friends with all of them. Became friends with Kenny Dope and Louie Vega, watched them, went in studio with them a few times, got pointers from them, traded equipment with them. I learned from the scene out there, because during the 90s, there was no better scene in my opinion, in the world, than New York at that time, for electronic music, house music, rap music, R&B music. There was no city that topped New York at that point. And I wasn't there yet, but the competition was right there in front of me. So if I wanted to make something that banged in the club, I had a lot of people's songs to compete with, and that's how I kind of taught myself, I just listened to those songs and followed that model.

Shifting Into R&B and Hip Hop

Bobby: Now, what about the shift in the 2000s? From what you're talking about right now, the 90s, to the beginning of 2000s through 2010, what was that shift?

MK: That's when I wasn't doing house music, because it got to a point, like I said earlier, where, some people may disagree, but for the most part, at least in America, it was labeled as gay music. It wasn't really taken in by the majors, it wasn't really a serious thing. Of course all the major labels needed a remix for a Jodeci record to get played in the club, but they didn't care. I was young at the time, and I'm like, okay, I better shift, because I don't know how long this house music thing is going to last, and I like making music. So the whole time I was making house music, I was still making hip hop music on my own, not to try to put it out, just to make it. I already knew how to make hip hop and R&B music. I thought, let me just chill on the house stuff for a while, because I don't know how long it's going to be around, and I need to make sure my income's good, that I'm bringing in money later on. If I do R&B and hip hop songs, at least I'll have royalties coming in later when I'm 50 or something.

I started doing that, met Quincy Jones, and actually became pretty successful on a lower level of R&B music, where I definitely made a nice living, bought a house, bought a beautiful studio. Did that for a while, and then the 2000s came, and that's when the internet kind of killed everything with Napster. Napster shut the industry down, lowkey, because labels weren't paying artists money anymore.

Bobby: Really? How did it totally shut it down, what was the change?

MK: When I was doing R&B music, I could easily make 200 grand a year writing songs for other artists that don't even make it out, that never got released, because the labels were like, here's 20 grand, go in the studio, do a song for SWV, and if it makes the album, it makes it, if it doesn't, it doesn't, we pay you for your time. So I did that for a while, some songs got played, some didn't, and it was still a little shaky. Then once the internet came and all the bootlegs happened, the labels stopped giving out free money, it turned into, if you want to do a song for Beyonce, work for six months until you land a Beyonce song and then we'll pay you. Every producer was on that mold from the beginning of the 2000s, it was like a rat race, a mess in studios, producers and writers fighting over publishing, who gets the song, and it just started becoming not the way I wanted to work.

Bobby: And you're doing hip hop and R&B, so you're dealing with a different type of street mentality.

MK: Yeah, no doubt. Whereas the person who walks in the door wants to kick back, and I'm like, okay, this is not for me.

Will Smith, Ariana Grande, and Finding the Way Back

MK: During this whole R&B time, I met Will Smith and Omar Rambert.

Bobby: I was going to ask you about this.

MK: Omar is like one of Will's best friends, and they work together. So I moved to LA at the time, because I was doing the R&B and hip hop thing, and that's when it was really popping. Got to LA, and that's when the whole internet thing kind of slowed music down. At this particular time, Will Smith built a studio in Studio City, and they came to me and said, hey, we're building a studio and we want to have Will with his own producer, so he can get stuff done in-house without having to go out and hire other producers, do you want to do it, we'll pay you so much money a month.

Bobby: So Will Smith wanted you to produce for him in the studio.

MK: And then just other projects, movie projects too, it wasn't necessarily just for Will.

Bobby: This is outside of music, movies as well.

MK: Whatever he was working on. Will and I worked on music for Bad Boys 2 that didn't make it, I, Robot, Shark Tale, there was stuff there. But again, it started to get a little boring for me, I'm like, all right, this is cool, I can eat, but it's not what I really want to do. I started working with Diane Warren, who's an excellent songwriter, did that for a while, still wasn't what I wanted. And then I started working with Ariana Grande.

Bobby: What year were you working with her?

MK: 2007.

Bobby: What was she releasing in 2007?

MK: She had just got signed, she was still on Disney Channel. She was working on a new album, and I was working on her project, and then mid project they changed the whole vibe, it wasn't the vibe it was meant to be. It was still pop, but it wasn't what it is now. So that got scrapped, I'm back to the drawing board, what am I going to do now? And then I heard Hotel Room Service by Pitbull.

Bobby: Banger.

MK: I'm like, that's my sample, I did that. So I'm like, this is my way back into house music, this is perfect, because that song was massive. I thought, okay, now I feel like house music is going to start to come back, I don't know how big or whatever. So I reached out to Buddha, who's Pit's DJ, and a long story short, Pit brought me in to produce with him.

Bobby: So you started working with Pitbull for a while.

MK: And that felt more like where I wanted to get, I was still doing mainstream music a little bit, but getting back to the dance side a little too. What tracks did I help Pit with? I think I did one with him and Shakira, I did a song called Alright, and a song for Men in Black 3. There's a few other ones, and I've seen Pit not so long ago, he's a great guy.

Back to DJing

MK: And then I thought I should start DJing. I did DJ in the 90s, when I was making music early on, I just had no interest in staying with it, it was using vinyl. I did a couple shows in London actually, and it just wasn't for me at the time, I don't like just playing records, I'd rather just make music. DJing and producing was still a thing back then, but come to 2010, it had its own legs. And I remember Jamie Jones and Lee Foss had a party here in Miami, right when they started to become huge, and they asked me to DJ a party with them.

Bobby: And that's when you were like, okay, this is probably why I should step in and start DJing.

MK: So I started from there, this was like 2009, 2010, I started DJing. And then I got back with my old management, who I had back in the 90s, Marci Weber. I started working with her again, she knew my whole background, so she kind of just started where she left off, it was easy, she knew my personality, I knew hers, and then she started getting me remixes again. The first year or two took a second to get back in my groove, and then once I got back into remix, everything started to click again. I was out in the scene more, out in clubs more, so I started hearing what was going on with house music, and just picked it right back up.

And then, in 2013, I did a remix of Storm Queen, Look Right Through.

Bobby: Fire song. By the way, that's one of the first dance music songs that I ever heard, that got me into it, me and my brother. We had that song on repeat, bro, I'm not kidding, seventeen times.

MK: That's funny, it's a fire track.

Bobby: Thank you, man.

17, Burning, and Going Viral

MK: That song actually went number one also in the UK, it was like the number one song in the country, and from that point on, there was no looking back. I got signed to Sony Records, I'm still signed to the same label, and just been putting out records ever since. I did 17, which did actually really well, an underrated one, My Head Is a Jungle did really well, a few other things in there, and that's it, dude.

Bobby: That's not just it, that's wild.

MK: Also, here's the funny part, because in 2010, 90s house became really popular, at least in the UK it did.

Bobby: What specific tracks do you think got reignited?

MK: the My Head Is a Jungle remix, Nightcrawlers, Push the Feeling On, almost any old track that I had that was a 90s track, to the point that when I started getting booked to play at shows, the shows were sold out, like my third time playing. I was never that type of DJ who had to go and start out a club with an empty club, I started out in a full sold out club.

Bobby: What the hell is that like? Was it hard to adjust, your first times DJing, to crowds and just being out there?

MK: Yes and no, I think it's a double edged sword, because I didn't have to figure out playing an empty club and getting them on the floor, I never had that luxury of learning how to do that. So now you have to learn it later in life, like, okay, the club's empty, now you got to build it back up, but I already know by now how to do that. It was really interesting doing that, DJing for the first time to have sold out clubs, and it was like that a lot in England. And this was before Look Right Through came out, so once that song came out, it got crazier, and then once 17 came out, it got crazier, and it just kind of snowballed.

Bobby: No doubt, it's crazy, dude, that's literally crazy. And the It's Friday remake of your song that was sampled, that was also like four or five years ago, that went ballistic on the internet, the video of the dude getting out of the car and dancing to it, that one went insane.

MK: It's funny, because when they remade it initially, it was my idea first to do that, to remake the song.

Bobby: Really?

MK: Yeah, and then everyone got involved, and John Reid, who's one of the original members of Nightcrawlers, got involved, rest in peace. But the thing is, I don't have publishing on that song, by the way, I get no money from that song, never have. Even from Pitbull, no money. So when they started to remake it again, I thought, do I really want to put myself back in this again? They said beforehand, you're not going to get any royalties for it, so I'm like, I'm just going to let this one go.

Bobby: Damn, that's crazy. Yo, I've seen you talk about this before, and my dad is actually here, this is one of his favorite songs, Gypsy Woman.

MK: Oh yeah.

Bobby: Was that an inspiration behind your track Burning?

MK: I heard the chords, I want to shout out to Pops in the back.

Bobby: Pops loves that track.

MK: I wanted to make a track that started with the chords, same kind of format, and what came out was Burning. No one put two and two together, but that's how producers kind of work, we hear a song we like, go in the studio, and try to get inspiration from it, and come out with something different. I'm sure most producers, if you ask them the reason behind a track they have, will have another track in mind they can tell you about.

Bobby: I need to start referencing that more when I talk to producers. Speaking of inspirations, do your kids ever help you with inspiration, based on what younger kids are listening to now?

MK: My daughter does, because she's starting to go out now. One time she came to the studio and said, "Dad, you should make a song with no vocals." I'm like, get out of here.

Bobby: Is she listening to like minimal house?

MK: No, the funny thing is, she's like I was at that age, she has a good ear, and she likes the more underground stuff. Her favorite song of mine is the MK Acapella, and most people don't know that song, it's on the B side of Burning.

Bobby: Holy crap.

MK: Yeah, I'm like, okay, you got good taste.

Bobby: That's what's up, shout out to your daughter, dude, keep putting you on.

MK: Shout out Charlie.

Ibiza Then and Now

Bobby: Yo, another thing I want to talk about with you is Ibiza. You've seen the progression of Ibiza over the last decade or so, I went one time with my brother back in 2016, and then a few times recently, and I've seen the difference in the energy on the island. Have you noticed any cultural differences, in terms of the music that's hot, the artists that are hot, the clubs that die down and get hot on the island?

MK: Here's what I noticed, the first time I went to Ibiza was 2011, I think, and it was like Disneyland, because the music choices are impeccable, the DJs are impeccable, the crowd, everything you want to like about house music was there. You get inspired by every single club, because they're playing such good music, and it keeps you on your toes. I remember, just before a set, you're like, I got to kill it, because Jamie's playing down the street, Carl Cox is playing there, so you have to make sure you're on point.

But what I've noticed in the past couple years is, because of social media, it's been driving this industry a lot. I've noticed that a lot of people there, especially the younger ones, want to hear songs or see DJs that they see online, on TikTok and stuff. It's not that they're a TikTok DJ, but it's the ones they see online, and you didn't see that before, in 2012 you just went to Ibiza and figured out, oh, that kid is amazing, I never heard of him, but he's sick. That's how a lot of DJs became popular back then, so now it's a little different, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it a little bit, still trying to fit into it, but not totally.

Bobby: Are there as many English kids as there are now?

MK: Yeah, it's always been a bunch of English kids, always. My whole time there, I've become friends with hundreds of English kids there.

Bobby: So many Brits, dude, they have a good time.

MK: Yeah, they do, dude, they party, bro.

Idris Elba and the Mike Project

Bobby: Yo, there's also an iconic video of you going back to back with Idris Elba, what is that guy like as a DJ?

MK: Oh, that dude is so awesome, man. I met him a while ago, I've known him for at least eight years, he's just a good guy.

Bobby: Oh, there's my phone again, tell me something in my ear. What? So it's saying Idris Elba's back on Apple TV with his new show Hijack.

MK: Shout out Idris Elba, man.

Bobby: That's crazy.

MK: But yeah, he's an awesome guy, super easy to work with, super down to earth, he loves music. The first time we hung out, he came to my house in LA and we hung out, we worked on a track, I still never released it, and we still talk about releasing it. And we made a group, me and him, it's called Mike.

Bobby: Wait, so you guys had a group together?

MK: Yeah, M-I-K-E. MK is Kinchen, and E is Elba, so it's Mike, that's our name together.

Bobby: Dude, I never knew that.

MK: No one knows it.

Bobby: That's crazy, do you guys have any music?

MK: We have a song called Mike.

Bobby: Where is it, dude?

MK: It's in my hard drive.

Bobby: We got to, yo, you got to show us that track.

MK: I'll finish it, I'll show it to you.

Bobby: All right, hell yeah, that's what's up, wow, that's incredible.

Conor McGregor, Vocalists, and Dom Dolla

Bobby: I got a few questions here now. You played at Conor McGregor's pub in Ireland, what was that like, is he he curated his own pub?

MK: He has his own pub in Ireland, it's a small pub, super vibey, the Irish kids know how to party. I just walked in, he's a great host, cool guy, I love him, it was really, really fun. Then after, we went in the back and ate and had some beer, and that was it.

Bobby: That's what's up.

MK: Then I've seen him a couple times too, he's like, "Hey MK, come here." I'm like, there was one video where he knocked someone out at Pacha.

Bobby: I saw that.

MK: I was there.

Bobby: Do you know the reason behind it?

MK: I forget, it was something, I'd be making up a story right now.

Bobby: All right, I'm sure you had a good reason.

MK: And also, don't go to Ibiza and mess with Conor McGregor, you're going to get knocked out.

Bobby: Yeah, that was pretty stupid, people trying to.

MK: No, the guy was definitely drunk, I know that, and it was like six in the morning.

Bobby: You got to be stupid to press him though, still. You've collaborated with a bunch of amazing vocalists, right? Who are some of your favorite vocalists that you've worked with, and the tracks you've put out?

MK: Of course, Crystal. The reason I like Crystal so much is because it's her vocals and the way she writes, I don't mean this the wrong way, but it's not overthought, it's like you immediately get what she's saying and how she's singing it. Her topics are cool, right on point, and I love that about her songs. Becky Hill, she's just an amazing songwriter.

Bobby: Becky Hill is the goat, she can sing anything and make it sound good.

MK: And Crystal is like a mixture of all of them, I love Crystal's tone. Clementine Douglas, Clen, is like a mixture of all of them, she's a great vocalist, her topics are really good, you can relate to them, and her melodies are out of this world.

Bobby: Her voice is so good, it's powerful.

MK: Anything she writes, as soon as she sends it to me, even before I hear it, I'm like, yeah, I want it.

Bobby: That's crazy. Back in 2023, you and Dom Dolla released Rhyme Dust, that was a huge track too, how did that come about?

MK: I was touring in America a few years before that, and Dom was on a roll with me, he was already huge in Australia, but he wasn't really peaking in America yet. I remember watching him play, I'm like, this dude is amazing. We stayed in touch, and we've always talked about doing a song together, and Dom hit me, he's like, hey, I have an idea I think would be good for us. He came over to my house in LA, played a few things, and then he played what he started with Rhyme Dust, and I'm like, this is it, this is perfect. I have a hip hop background, so I'm like, this is actually perfect, I want to do a song without singing, there was a rap on it, I love Q-Tip, I love the way he used those parts from the song. It just worked, and we just clicked, it was super easy.

It was also right when COVID started, which was weird, we were in my house working on the song, and his manager called and said, hey, that COVID thing that's going on, you got to go home, you have to fly back to Australia, they're about to shut the country down. We were like, nah, shut up, you like this bassline, bro? And then like 20 minutes later, he had to head to the airport and fly home to Australia, and that's when COVID started, no one left the house after that.

Bobby: That's crazy.

MK: We just kind of left it, we didn't know when we were going to finish it, and we didn't even try to finish it during COVID, because we didn't know what was going on. But then when we saw light at the end of the tunnel, we said, let's get back to Rhyme Dust.

Bobby: I remember seeing him tease it, he did a set in the Middle East I think it was, he was on top of a building somewhere, I remember seeing clips of him teasing it, and everyone on the internet was like, yo, release this.

MK: Yeah, that's what made it get released.

Bobby: They almost bullied you guys into it.

MK: Yeah, they truly did. Dom called me like, "Did you see this? Should we put it out?" We figured it out.

Bobby: No doubt. You also have a few collaborations with Sonny Fodera too, really good songs by the way, what's your relationship like with Sonny?

MK: I just talked to him an hour ago, we have another song coming out, I sent him a song I'm working on to collab on, and he sent me one on his side, so there's two songs in the works right now.

Rapid Fire and This or That

Bobby: Hell yeah, let's go. I want to ask you about five artists right now that you think are going to blow up, or that are even on the rise of blowing up.

MK: I did this a while ago on my socials.

Bobby: We'll boost it again, dude.

MK: No, I took it down, because I'm a producer guy, and my social guy said, hey, name five producers you like, and I just named some off the top of my head, and they were all guys, and the women were like, "Yo, MK, what's wrong with you?" I didn't even mean it like that, I just, off the top of my head, picked five producers I like. Unfortunately, this industry doesn't have a lot of women in it compared to men.

Bobby: Yeah.

MK: I have nothing against working with women, my best songs are with women, so I'm not even going to ask that question, basically.

Bobby: That's fine, I don't want to put that on you, we don't even need to go there. Let me ask you, I'm going to switch up the question a little bit, maybe this will be a little harder for you. What are your top five songs that you've released?

MK: 17. Burning. Dior. Look Right Through. Probably my Jodeci remix, Freek'n You.

Bobby: Nice, we can do an honorary mention, one more.

MK: Push the Feeling On.

Bobby: Hell yeah, let's go. All right, I'm going to do one last segment with you, this is more so for social media. This or that, with your music. You ready? Better, or Come Find Me?

MK: Come Find Me.

Bobby: Come Find Me or Chemical?

MK: Come Find Me.

Bobby: Come Find Me or There for You?

MK: Come Find Me.

Bobby: Come Find Me or One Night?

MK: Come Find Me.

Bobby: Whoa. Come Find Me or Back and Forth?

MK: Come Find Me.

Bobby: Come Find Me or Piece of Me?

MK: Piece of Me.

Bobby: All right, nice switch up. Piece of Me or Asking?

MK: Piece of Me.

Bobby: Piece of Me or Look Right Through?

MK: Oh, that's a tough one, Look Right Through.

Bobby: Look Right Through or Stop This Flame?

MK: Look Right Through.

Bobby: Look Right Through or Dior?

MK: My two number ones.

Bobby: Come on, doggy, head to head.

MK: No one said this was going to be easy, brother. I'm going to have to say Dior.

Bobby: All right, let's go. Dior or Push the Feeling?

MK: Push the Feeling.

Bobby: Push the Feeling or Rhyme Dust?

MK: Push the Feeling.

Bobby: Push the Feeling or 17?

MK: 17.

Bobby: Boom, I kind of thought it was going to go that way.

MK: 17.

Bobby: Yo, hell yeah. Well, listen, bro, I appreciate you coming on and hanging out and chatting, dude. You're the man, much love.

MK: All right, peace.