The Come Up Episode 17 Video Transcript

Scrappy:

What up, what up, what up, what up, what up. Welcome to the Come Up, a video podcast featuring Southwest Florida entrepreneurs and business leaders. We’re sponsored by Content with Teeth, a creative content agency, 20 years experience right here in Southwest Florida. As you can see from this fat head, they do things big, really big, specializing in copywriting, video production. If you want to be a sponsor on the Come Up or a guest hit me up @heyscrappy on IG or text my man Mike at 21,000.

Today’s guest is rapper TMike from Fort Myers. People are saying, “Scrappy, he’s a rapper. He’s not a businessman, he’s not an entrepreneur, he’s not a business leader.” And I’m saying, “Mo, no, no, no, no. My man, TMike’s got it going on.” He’s not just a rapper in hip hop. He takes a business approach to his game and to his music. I know him personally. I can tell you he’s fun, he’s genuine, and he’s got that smile. Give us your smile, Mike, give us your smile.

TMike:

I appreciate that, man. Thank you. Thank you. That’s a great introduction. I greatly appreciate it.

Scrappy:

You’re from Fort Myers. This is a Southwest Florida podcast, so it’s really cool to have you on. Tell us about Fort Myers and hip hop. What’s the scene like?

TMike:

Man, the scene in Fort Myers, it’s not too major. It’s a lot of people who rap, who sing. There’s a lot of different genres that come out of the city of Fort Myers. Collectively, it’s a great group of artists. The thing is, it is just not a big spotlight that’s shown upon the city so a lot of things you have to do as an artist you have to branch out. You have to market yourself. You have to build yourself and prove yourself as a brand, not just the artist because people going to listen to your music, but they also want to listen to who you are. They want to be able to resonate with the person that you are.

(singing)

Scrappy:

When did you get your start?

TMike:

I guess 2017 is really when I actually started, when I started taking it serious, actually putting money behind my craft. So I guess I’d say 2017.

Scrappy:

Let’s rewind just a little bit though. You were rapping [inaudible 00:02:33] way before that, right?

TMike:

Yeah, yeah. I was rapping all the time, making beats on lunch tables in the classroom, in the back rapping all the time.

Scrappy:

So you’re musically inclined. We know that about you. It’s awesome. In 2017, you put a team together. Tell us about your team.

TMike:

I started out a friend of mine, Scooby. Well, actually I started out going to this guy named Motif in my friend’s apartment. That was a guy I just met. He was actually staying with my friend at the time so I would go to my friend’s apartment and we’d go to his apartment. He had a makeshift studio in there, so we try to make music. Then my friend Scooby, he introduced me to a guy named Sam, and that was the first time I went to a actual legit studio. And Sam had, I think the name of his studio was Waves and it was in Fort Myers.

I actually gravitated towards Hero and Hero, he’s still on my team to this day. That’s my engineering, my producer. He makes pretty much all of my beats. And after a while, just being in Fort Myers and grinding, pushing out a lot of music, I got in contact with my DJ, DJ Henny, and he just simply was like… He’s a younger guy. He told me he really believed in my music and he liked what I was doing, and he just really wanted the opportunity to be my DJ.

Scrappy:

Oh, very nice.

TMike:

I wasn’t looking for him and he just happened to reach out. He was very genuine and he just became a part of the family organically, really.

Scrappy:

As an entrepreneur, you have to manage the situation, but also be the star of the situation. So how do you go about delegating?

TMike:

Few times I have to remind myself or other people have to remind me that I’m the artist. Sometimes I should just think about the music. But as an independent artist, when you are so hands-on, it’s hard to take steps back, because if I have Hero doing this, I know this is going on. It’s not just something that’s a surprise to me. Everybody in the team knows that this is happening. We all know that this needs to get done. So I never really put myself above the work. We all have to work, you know what I mean?

Scrappy:

It’s a fine line between being creative and being business. Where do you draw the line?

TMike:

I stick to textbook things. If this is proven to work, I just keep doing it. In the business world, it’s not too much room for creativity unless you’re taking risks. Sometimes the risk, it outweighs the reward and the reward is greatly received. So it just depends on the situation. You don’t want to, like I always say, never been against the market. You don’t want to put your money in something that doesn’t look fruitful. If it doesn’t seem like it’s going to pan out, it’s never a good idea to put your money on it. So sometimes you got to stick with what you know. But in a business world, it’s frowned upon to take too many risks but you get great rewards. And when it comes to creativity, you’re not bound by any rules. There is no logic. It is literally an open canvas. So it is up to you to create.

Scrappy:

Entrepreneurially, you have to make sacrifices, you have to take leaps, you have to make big risks and you certainly believe in yourself and you’ve done that. Do you feel really confident about your crusade?

TMike:

Yes. I mean, with anything in life, there’s ups and downs. You’re going to look back and ask yourself, “Did I do the right thing?” But the only way you can honestly answer that question is by continuing to go. You don’t know what the end has to hold. I’m still not finished, I’m still not done but if I could look back and say that I’m further than I am last year, then you’re making progress. You got to keep going.

Scrappy:

What makes you first pop off? When did all of a sudden TMike become somewhat of a household name in Fort Myers?

TMike:

Honestly, man, it’s still surreal to myself. I don’t know exactly when it happened. I feel like it is just me continuously to put out music, continuously to put my face out there. I want you to see me. So like I said, I would probably say like 2019 probably is when I feel like I heard people singing my music and they weren’t close friends of mine. You know what I mean?

Scrappy:

That’s pretty. That’s pretty amazing that you started in 2017 and you could walk down the street and hear your music in 2019 unwittingly. That’s totally cool. Another thing too, man, is your music. I’ve listened to pretty much all of it. It’s smooth, well produced, tells stories. I really enjoy. In fact, I think it’s important that we celebrate your music here right now and play one of your videos. Is that okay?

TMike:

Oh yes, sir. Most definitely.

Scrappy:

One time for Constantly. Got it going on TMike.

TMike:

Yes sir. Thank you. Constantly. Here we go.

Scrappy:

The Come Up baby.

TMike:

The Come Up.

(singing)

Scrappy:

I love your lyrics, dog. I love your lyrics.

TMike:

I want to give you everything, man. I want you to feel good when you listening to the song. And I want you to feel what I’m saying. I want you to be able to relate with what’s going on.

Scrappy:

How do you write?

TMike:

Honestly, I go off the beat man. Me and Hero or whoever I’m working with at the time, we’re going to sit there. We’re going to come up with a sound. We’re going to create the sound and however the sound makes me feel, is based off what my lyrics will go off of.

Scrappy:

And do you have a process, whether it’s writing pen and a pad, punch in freestyle? How do you go about it in studio?

TMike:

Honestly, it’s a mixture of both. I usually start off writing on my phone, no pen and pad. I got my notes and my phone. I start off with that. I can’t really completely write a song without going in the booth, so I’ll write down a little bit. Go in the booth, lay something down, see how it sounds. Freestyle a little bit, might ride a little bit more. It’s really based on the momentum I’m at when I’m in the booth.

Scrappy:

It’s interesting when you say the phone, because has there been an instance where, maybe it’s a compromising instance, but you hear something, you maybe you’re with your girl, maybe with your buddies at the club. “Yo, yo, yo, wait, hold on, hold up. I got something in my head.” And you record it.

TMike:

Yes. That’s happened. I was at a concert one time, I think it was called The Legends Tour. It was a Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Moneybagg Yo and we were in the crowd. We were sitting where we were sitting at, and I just had a thought in my head and I pulled my phone out and I was able to put it in my notes. I used to write. I used to have a composition notebook when I was in high school. I would write stuff down, but I’ve lost it. I mean, years ago. I haven’t seen that thing for a long time.

Scrappy:

Well, our audience is mostly business people and we all want to live vicariously through TMike. So tell us about one of your really great concert experiences.

TMike:

My favorite concert experience was, I believe it was that same concert, the Arena. We was in the Orlando Magic Arena and we actually, we had seats in the…

Scrappy:

No, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t want to hear about seats, TMike watching. I want to hear a concert story about TMike spitting.

TMike:

Oh, that was my favorite. My favorite experience had to be a few weeks ago. I was at a truth lounge in Tampa, had a show out there, and actually my brother, Sherm, it was his first time performing, and we performed our latest song, Bloody Nose live for the first time and the whole… Everybody in the club was going ridiculous. So it was a crazy feeling. Even my DJ, Hero, they were like, “Bro, we’ve never seen a club do that,” especially for me. You know what I mean? So for everybody to just be hanging on to listen to the words that I’m rapping and everybody just having fun and enjoying themselves.

Scrappy:

That was my next question.

TMike:

That was pretty much my favorite moment.

Scrappy:

Definitely. That’s my next question, because there’s baby steps, there’s recording, there’s feeling good about the recording, there’s getting your music out there, but all of a sudden to go to another city and perform and have the audience know your lyrics, man, that’s goosebumps, right?

TMike:

Yeah, that’s something. That’s something. My dream is to be able to just hold the mic out and have everybody sing my lyrics.

Scrappy:

Give it another year.

One more year.

TMike:

Yeah, man. Hey, I’m praying by the grace of God.

Scrappy:

So you have this great audience. They’re feeling you, they’re understanding you. Do you know who they are? Can you define who they are for us?

TMike:

Honestly, I say myself, I see the fans as me. Those people are who are in the crowd, it’s the same person who stand on that stage. I make my music for people like me. I make music because I fell in love with music. So I try to put what made me fall in love with music, into my music.

Scrappy:

Interesting, interesting. Young, old, black, white, tough, sensitive, young.

TMike:

It’s black, white, but younger. Most people I see at my shows are anywhere between, I say like 22 and 32.

Scrappy:

Okay. One thing…

Michael Barnes:

Hi, I’m Michael Barnes, owner of Content with Teeth. We are a creative content agency in Southwest Florida. We specialize in copywriting and video production with over two decades of experience creating unboring content. If you struggle to create compelling stuff for your business or client, check us out at contentwithteeth.com. Now, back to our show.

Scrappy:

… That I tell rappers that I think is very interesting, but oftentimes goes by the wayside, is understanding your audience and then marketing to them on site. Do you give them mixtapes? Do you get data from them? Do you get their email addresses or their IG addresses, their social media information because right there, that’s gold. When you have people singing your lyrics and repeating to you and feeling you on that level, somehow someway, you need to capture that.

TMike:

One thing I always do after every set I do, I let people know my Instagram and my email to connect with me. I always follow whoever follows me. I reach out to whoever, reach out to me because you don’t have to reach out to me. You don’t have to follow me. You don’t have to be a fan of mine, but I appreciate you for doing that. You know what I mean? So I try my best to reach out to each and every person.

Scrappy:

That’s awesome. That’s awesome because branding is the relationship between the product and the consumer, and you’re on stage and you’re doing it in real time, man, that’s really cool. How about your identity and your image? How would you describe yourself?

TMike:

I describe myself as just a hardworking, humble person man. I like to have fun just like everybody else. I like to enjoy the fruits of my labor, but honestly, I’m just a humble guy. I’m blessed to be alive. I’m blessed to be in a position I am. I don’t take life for granted at all. I know any day I could wake up and not be here.

(singing)

Scrappy:

I watch your videos. I see this sensitive guy, I see this tough guy. I see this guy that’s lyrically gifted. I see this party guy. I see this guy with a gun, pop, pop, pop, pop, pow. So I see all these different aspects of you, all these different facets of TMike. So if I’m a consumer, how would you describe yourself to us in terms of why we should listen to you?

TMike:

I would describe myself as human. Like you said, man, all those different things you see is different things that everybody go through. Everybody gets mad, everybody has fun. Everybody laughs, everybody cries. Sometimes you have to be serious, sometimes you want to be the comedic relief. So I would just simply describe myself as human. I just give you the human experience. Everything I go through, you go through.

Scrappy:

I feel you. For real. I’ve interviewed 500 rappers in my life and you’re very genuine. You’re very real. You’re very sincere. You’re caring man and I feel that through the podcast for sure.

TMike:

I appreciate that.

Scrappy:

Yeah, and it comes through, man. It’s real. And next 30 days, what song are you going to put together? What’s the message going to be? What’s the theme going to be? What story are you going to tell?

TMike:

The next 30 days I have a huge project I’m coming out with. It’s called Already Made It. I just finished shooting the video yesterday with Brand Films. Shout out Brand Films. Man, Already Made It is just about the way I feel right now in my career, in my life. Just feeling good, feeling like I’ve accomplished a lot of things. Not really everything that I need to accomplish, but I feel good about the position I’m in. So the song is about achieving things and putting your best foot forward. Feeling like you are on the right track and where you should be in life.

Scrappy:

You’re in a good place. You got a catalog kicking right now, you got your social media game, you’re doing concerts. People are identifying with you. You’re really in a good place, a really good position to take it to the next level. Speaking of which, competition, do you feel like you have any?

TMike:

Always, always feel like I’m in competition with people, but I honestly feel like my competition is the person that’s number one on the top 100 Billboards. My competition is the people who are constantly getting posted on blogs and the people that you see on TV. I’m with competition with Drake. That’s my competition. My competition is Tim’s and Wiz Kid and people like that. I see those people as my competition.

Scrappy:

Really? Afro beats?

TMike:

Well, anyone. I mean whoever’s at the top of the game, that’s my competition.

Scrappy:

Nice, nice.

TMike:

I’m a artist. Whether it’s Afro Beats, it can be drill beats from the UK, whatever it is, I’m up for the challenge. I just want to be the best that I could possibly be at my craft.

Scrappy:

You mentioned Drake. What makes him so successful?

TMike:

Man, timeless. I feel like he makes timeless music. He’s able to just go with the times. Whatever is needed in the world musically, Drake provides. I mean, you can like it, you can hate it and you can love it. I mean, whatever it is, he’s going to give you something to just listen to.

Scrappy:

It’s interesting because he’s a walking brand violation now. In marketing and branding we say, “Stick to a lane, have your niche, carve your identity.” And what does Drake do? Hip hop artist puts out a house album and it’s successful and it sounds great.

TMike:

Like you always say, “Throw something against the wall, see if it sticks.”

Scrappy:

Absolutely. Absolutely. So do you feel like you need radio and record labels to be successful?

TMike:

No. You need word of mouth. You need a fan base. You just need fans. You don’t need anything except for the fans, that’s really it.

Scrappy:

And we’re you rapping in grade school?

TMike:

Yeah, battle raps, cracking jokes and stuff like that. Nothing too serious, but, all the time. Every day, pretty much especially during lunch.

Scrappy:

You have a big personality for sure. And speaking about grade school, if you were to go back to grade school tomorrow and you were going to address the class, what kind of advice would you give them?

TMike:

Oh, man. I would tell them to never stop learning. Never be afraid to ask questions. When I was younger, I was afraid to raise my hand in class and ask questions but now that I’ve gotten older, knowledge truly is power. Learn as much as you possibly can and to understand the stock market. I wish they would teach financial literacy in school these days. They don’t teach anything that we could really use in the real world, except for math. That’s the only thing we’re actually taught so just learn outside of school, learn outside of the textbooks, and learn the stock market. That’s what I would tell them.

Scrappy:

I think you’d be a great teacher.

TMike:

I try my best man. The kids are the future. They need to know these things.

Scrappy:

So let’s say there’s an 18-year-old rapper that’s on the come up. He’s just starting out, what advice do you give him?

TMike:

Try your best to find an engineer. Find your own engineer. Find your own sound. Don’t go chasing waterfalls, don’t pay for streams. Don’t put your money into scams and to just be careful because there’s a lot of sharks out there against independent artists such as myself. You’re going to get fake emails, you’re going to get fake DMs. There’s going to be people telling you they could get you a Grammy like this. It’s fake. You got to understand these things. So number one thing is to be careful.

Scrappy:

My man, TMike. Got it going on. You got it going on and we’re sponsored by Content with Teeth, a creative content agency with over 20 years of experience right here in Southwest Florida. As you can see from the fat head, we’re doing a really big specializing in copywriting and video production. We got content and if you’d like to sponsor the Come Up or be a guest, hit me up at @heyscrappy on IG or text Mike at 21,000. TMike, I’m banking on you. If there’s a stock market I’m investing in you, my brother.

TMike:

Yes sir. Yes sir. DJ Scrappy, thank you so much, man. It’s always a pleasure talking to you. I greatly appreciate it.