New York rapper, artist and storyteller Mic Nickels goes to battle without hesitation. Truth, loyalty, bold lyricism and unrelenting charisma make up the ingredients of his particular hip hop molotov cocktail. Rap music obsessives will all find something to dig into here, whether they champion Wu Tang, KRS One, Mos Def or Nas.
After concluding the longest weekly residency in New York City history (8 plus years), that featured live original hip hop music with a band, frontman of Nickel and Dime Ops, Mic Nickels, decided to shift his focus back to his musical roots. The result was Bars for Days, a traditional beats and rhymes album that put the emcee’s lyrical prowess on full display. The project was released alongside a self-penned ethnography/memoir of the same title, which received critical acclaim, and even made its way to becoming a curriculum at the Berklee School of Music. The culmination of the Bars for Days project was the single release of El Matador, which features legendary Wu Tang Clan member, Method Man. The animated video was aired on MTV and BET, and has been streamed hundreds of thousands of times around the globe. This push increased Nickels’ notoriety, earning him thousands of new fans who continue to tune into his music regularly.
For his follow up act, Mic Nickels has returned with The Impressionist, a powerful musical project, fully produced by Serbian beatmaker phenom, Kiza. Since its release in November 2024, the star studded album, which Insomniac Magazine called, “an 8 track master opus,” has been in steady rotation on hip hop radio and playlists. The first two singles, The Possibilities and In the Water featuring Kurious and L.I.F.E.Long, were launched alongside high powered music videos. Each of these steps have been carefully curated while building up towards another large splash, similar to the way El Matador catapulted Nickels’ brand awareness. The vessel for this power-move will be Against the World, a track which features two legendary emcees, Rockness Monsta (One half of Heltah Skeltah from the Boot Camp Clik) and Rah Digga (Female superstar member from Busta Rhymes’ Flipmode Squad), along with UK underground DJ legend, Keef Wookie. This monstrous video was shot in Long Island City by filmmaker Jamal Hall, around the streets and in the corridors of an old industrial building, giving it a vintage boom bap feel. The release is now slated for April 11th, and will also feature an unreleased bonus track, which will also serve as a preview to The Impressionist 2, currently in production