At age 10, MIKE decided to become a successful rapper. Then he did it.

MIKE started rapping as a means to avoid going to college. And it kind of worked.

The 25-year-old first got enticed by rap and hip-hop about 15 years ago when he was living in London with his older sister. He recalls running upstairs to his sister’s room, jumping on her bed and exclaiming he was going to be a rapper. At 10 years old, he had decided this would be his career path after watching Channel U, a British TV music channel that highlighted underground hip-hop.