Mykology

Michael Lafayette Troy (born January 15, 1969), better known by his stage name Myka 9, is a rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku d'Etat and Magic Heart Genies. Known for years as Mikah Nine, he changed the spelling to Myka Nyne with the release of ''A Work in Progress'' in 2003. Since Magic Heart Genies' album ''Heartifact'' in 2008, he has been credited as Myka 9.

History

Originally known as Microphone Mike in the 1980s, Myka 9 was a member of the MC Aces with Aceyalone and Spoon Iodine. He ghost-wrote the Rappinstine song "Scream" on N.W.A.'s debut album '' N.W.A. and the Posse'' in 1987.

As a co-founder of Freestyle Fellowship, he was instrumental in the scene at the Good Life Cafe in the early 1990s.

Released in 1993, Freestyle Fellowship's second album '' Innercity Griots'' is one of the landmarks of Los Angeles hip hop. Their videos for "Inner City Boundaries" and "Hot Potato" brought them to the attention of a wider audience. Myka 9 was also featured on two tracks on ''Project Blowed'' compilation in 1994. In the late 1990s, Myka 9 came together with Aceyalone and Abstract Rude to form Haiku D'Etat. In 2008, Myka 9 formed Magic Heart Genies with J the Sarge and DJ Drez.

Myka 9 has collaborated with The Wailers Band, Prefuse 73, Daddy Kev, Busdriver, Cut Chemist, Talib Kweli, and many others. He has worked extensively with producer and trumpeter Josef Leimberg, who produced the majority of ''It's All Love: American Nightmare'' and ''A Work in Progress''. He has released three albums with Canadian producer Factor Chandelier.

Style and legacy

Myka 9 is known for rapid-fire, jazz-influenced, melodic rapping, often incorporating singing and occasionally scatting into his songs. Myka 9 has said of his style: "My rhymes take the direction of a jazz trumpet or sax solo, like Miles or Trane, if I was to rhyme in the same meter as those notes... that’s my concept."

Myka 9 has had a large influence on Los Angeles underground hip hop and freestyle rap in general. Discussing the influence of Myka 9's song "7th Seal" on Freestyle Fellowship's first album '' To Whom It May Concern...'' (1991), Ellay Khule said, "'7th Seal' blew everybody's mind for at least 2 years straight. People studied that shit backwards and forwards—even we don't know all those words. That made everybody say like 'I gotta get a tape out' or 'I can't rap like so-and-so no more. I can't be in 80s, now we movin' to the 90s.' That totally transferred our musical thought." Drummer and producer JMD said, "Mike was like the Charlie Parker of all these motherfuckers."

Pigeon John said, "For me Mikah 9 was like Miles Davis. He was a tall good looking dude, the girls always liked him and this dude just went on stage and there was no effort in him. He was a genius in what he did. He affected and influenced so many people in hip-hop including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, that whole scene. Years before Leaders of the New School, there are stories where Freestyle Fellowship, when they first came out and they went to New York. That whole shouting stuff, they had this ingenious way to do it and they had a backing jazz band before Digable Planets. Busta Rhymes ran up to him (Myka 9) afterwards and said 'dude what kind of style is this,' and then lo and behold Leaders of the New School came out. So there's plenty of stories like that, but that's just like a taste of how potent that scene was at the Good Life."

Film

Myka 9 is featured in the documentary '' Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme'', ''Where We're From: The Elements Documentary'', and the ''Hip Hop Evolution'' Netflix series. He is also featured in the award-winning documentary '' This Is the Life'', chronicling the music movement that was birthed at The Good Life Cafe in South Central, Los Angeles. The Good Life Cafe is the open-mic workshop where he first performed with Freestyle Fellowship in the early 1990s.

Publications

In 2022, Myka 9 released a book called ''My Kaleidoscope,'' which features song lyrics, a detailed oral history, and photography by Brian "B+" Cross and more.

Myka 9 has also been featured in the books ''How to Rap'' and ''How to Rap 2'' by Paul Edwards, ''The Real Hiphop'' by Marcyliena Morgan, and ''The Yale Anthology of Rap.''

Discography

Studio albums

Solo

*''It's All Love'' (1999)
*''Timetable'' (2001)
*''A Work in Progress'' (2003)
*''Citrus Sessions Vol. 1'' (2006)
*''1969'' (2009) (with Factor Chandelier)
*''Mykology'' (2011)
*'' Sovereign Soul'' (2012) (with Factor Chandelier)
*''Gramophone'' (2012)
*''Famous Future Time Travel'' (2015) (with Factor Chandelier)
*''Teleported'' (2017) (with Freematik)
*''A New Suspiria'' (2018) (with Jade River)
*''Tonight's Program'' (2019) (with AbnormaL Injustice)
*''High Maintenance Jackson'' (2019) (with Slippers)
*''In Motion'' (2019) (with Adriatic)
*''Teleported 2'' (2020) (with Freematik)
*''Nine Clouds'' (2021) (with Profound)
*''The Ninth Dimension'' (2021) (with Freematik, as Flavor Wolf)
*''FLVRWLF 2'' (2022) (with Freematik, as Flavor Wolf)

Freestyle Fellowship

(Myka 9 with Aceyalone, P.E.A.C.E. & Self Jupiter)
*'' To Whom It May Concern...'' (1991)
*'' Innercity Griots'' (1993)
*'' Temptations'' (2001)
*'' The Promise'' (2011)

Haiku d'Etat

(Myka 9 with Abstract Rude & Aceyalone)
*'' Haiku d'Etat'' (1999)
*'' Coup de Theatre'' (2004)

Magic Heart Genies

(Myka 9 with J the Sarge & DJ Drez)
*''Heartifact'' (2008)
*''Cardiac Arrest'' (2010)
*''Pulmonary Artistry'' (2012)

AyeM Ray-Dio

(Myka 9 with Abstract Rude)
*''AyeM Ray-Dio'' (2015)

Other releases

EPs

*''The Citrus Sessions'' (2005)
*'' Shockadoom'' (2002) ( Freestyle Fellowship)
*''It's All Myka'' (2003)
*''Long Ago MMXVI'' (2016) (with AbnormaL Injustice)
*''Oeuvre EP'' (2017)
*''Prophetic Vision'' (2019)
*''Stay Tuned'' (2020) (with AbnormaL Injustice)
*''Constellations'' (2020) (with Adriatic)
*''People Into Making Progress'' (2020) (with Factor Chandelier)

Mixtapes

*''Power Plant'' (2011) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Discoveries from the Ninth Dimension'' (2020) (with Freematik)

Remix albums

*''To Whom It May Concern... Version 2.0'' (2001) (Freestyle Fellowship with J. Sumbi)

Compilations

*''Haiku de Theatre: The Best of Haiku'' (2017) ( Haiku d'Etat)
*''Years (2009-2019)'' (2019) (with Factor Chandelier)

Singles

*''Bullies of the Block'' (1992) ( Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Hot Potato'' (1993) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Los Dangerous'' (1997) ( Haiku d'Etat)
*''Can You Find the Level of Difficulty in This?'' (1999) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Sex in the City'' (2001) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Temptations'' (2002) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Mike, Aaron & Eddie'' (2004) (Haiku d'Etat)
*''Triumvirate'' (2005) (Haiku d'Etat)
*''Citrus District'' (2006)
*''Where Would You Be'' (2008)
*''On This Earth'' (2010) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Get Mystical'' (2010) (Magic Heart Genies)
*''Momz'' (2012) (Magic Heart Genies)
*''Delusions of Grandeur'' (2012)
*''Playing Our Song'' (2012) (Freestyle Fellowship)
*''Move Beat'' (2012) (Magic Heart Genies)
*''PTSD'' (2012)
*''Gramophone (Kenny's Cookin' Remix)'' (2013)
*''War with Yourself'' (2014) (with Factor Chandelier)
*''Farewell Welfare'' (2017) (with Otherwize & DJ JahBluez)
*''Creeper'' (2017) (with Factor Chandelier)
*''Good Lookin' Lady'' (2018) (with Jade River)
*''The Sacred Well'' (2018) (with Factor Chandelier)
*''Battle'' (2019) (with DJ JahBluez)
*''Survive'' (2019) (with DJ JahBluez)
*''Sea to Sea'' (2019) (with LaPrada & Moka Only)
*''Life or Death'' (2019)
*''Upliftment'' (2020)
*''Waves'' (2020) (with Magik Eyes Only)
*''Walking with God'' (2020) (with Profound)
*''Cloud Nine'' (2021) (with Profound)
*''Joy & Pain'' (2021) (with Profound)

Guest appearances

* Aceyalone - "Know Nots" and "B-Boy Kingdom" from '' All Balls Don't Bounce'' (1995)
* The A-Team - "Slower Traffic to the Right" and "O.G. Crew (Heavyweights Round 3)" from ''Who Framed the A-Team?'' (2000)
* Prefuse 73 - "Life Death" from '' Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives'' (2001)
* Daddy Kev - "First Things Last" from ''Lost Angels'' (2001)
* Busdriver & Radioinactive with Daedelus - "Weather Locklear" from '' The Weather'' (2003)
* Josh One - "Afterhours" from ''Grey Skies'' (2003)
* Pigeon John - "Originalz" from '' Is Dating Your Sister'' (2003)
* Busdriver - "Sphinx's Coonery" from ''Fear of a Black Tangent'' (2005)
* Blue Sky Black Death - "Grimey Styles" from '' A Heap of Broken Images'' (2006)
* Mochipet - "Hope Again" from ''Microphonepet'' (2008)
* Factor - "Good Old Smokey" from ''Chandelier'' (2008)
* BK-One with Benzilla - "MJage" from ''Radio Do Canibal'' (2009)
* Busdriver - "Manchuria" from '' Jhelli Beam'' (2009)
* Awol One & Factor - "Stand Up" from ''Owl Hours'' (2009)
* Abstract Rude - "Thynk Eye Can (Haiku D'Etat Mix)" from '' Rejuvenation'' (2009)
* Lazor Sword - "Cosmic Ride" from ''Lazor Sword'' (2010)
* Factor - "That's How I Feel About It" from '' Lawson Graham'' (2010)
* Noah23 - "Sea of the Infinite Wave" from '' Fry Cook on Venus'' (2011)
* K-the-I??? - "Social Misfit" from ''Synesthesia'' (2011)
* Headnodic - "Viles" from ''Red Line Radio'' (2011)
* Acid Reign - "Fantastic 4" from ''Diversity'' (2011)
* AmpLive - "Get Served" from ''Murder at the Discotech'' (2011)
* Sixo - "Trees" from ''Free Floating Rationales'' (2012)
* Abstract Rude - "The Media" from ''Dear Abbey'' (2012)
* Substance Abuse - "Paper Tigers" from ''Background Music'' (2012)
* AF the Naysayer - "Imagerial Denouement" (2013)
* Factor - "Denied" from '' Woke Up Alone'' (2013)
* Notorious BEN - "Human Horse Race" from ''Mind of Many Voices'' (2013)
* VNDMG - "Daggers at Dawn" from ''Million Minds'' (2014)
* Pseudoubt - "One Place" from ''Where Nothing Grows'' (2015)
* Milo - "Zen Scientist" from ''So The Flies Don't Come'' (2015)
* The Mighty Rhino - “The Shit That Will Fuck You Up” from ''We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness'' (2018)
* Jesse Dangerously - "Life Jacket" from ''The Rap Hundreds'' (2018)
* Timi Hendrix - "Autist" from ''Tim Weitkamp Das Musical'' (2018)
* Ronesh - "Float" from ''Olive Branches'' (2019)
* Factor Chandelier - "First Storm" from ''First Storm'' (2020)
* Factor Chandelier - "Time Invested" and "Village Required" from ''Time Invested II'' (2022)

References

External links

*

Magic Heart Genies
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myka 9
Alternative hip hop musicians
American hip hop record producers
Rappers from Los Angeles
West Coast hip hop musicians
Living people
21st-century American rappers
Record producers from California
Project Blowed
1969 births