Mike Schpitz Interview with Block Starz

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Mike Schpitz

And the interviews keep rolling in. I caught up with my guys at Block Starz Music yesterday for a quick interview/update about what has been going on since we dropped Stanley Ipkiss. Also read about how fatherhood has been going! Check out a little bit of the interview below and the rest over at BlockStarzMusic.com and make sure you go pick up that Stanley Ipkiss: Year of the Nice Guy on iTunes or Amazon.

What projects have you worked on since dropping your Block Starz Music debut “Stanley Ipkiss: Year of the Nice Guy”?

I have been working a lot since “Stanley Ipkiss”. First and foremost, me and my guy, who also emcees, Pete Sayke just formed a group called Grumpy Old Men and we are getting ready to release our debut album, as a group, called “Sunday Skool” on November 8th. We worked with a lot of different producers and artists on the project. Production wise, we have Wes P, Maja 7th, Ill Brown, LONEgevity, SLOT-A, Ta-Ku and Rob Bates. For features we have, SLOT-A, Dre Dai, Scheme, Neak, Sin Castle and LONEgevity. We’re both super excited about this album! We teamed up with LiveMixtapes.com, YNotMyDream.net and BringingDownTheBand.com. A few weeks back Pete Sayke and I performed in Atlanta at the A3C Hip Hop Festival alongside a ton of other artists. We recently had “The Wake” featured on LiveMixtapes and DJ Scream’s “The Battle” mixtape in support of “Battlefield 3″.

Other than that, I’m still doing solo stuff. Finishing up “Paid Time Off” with Phys Edison and of course “Have You Seen My Stapler” with SLOT-A. “Paid Time Off” we just have to finishing mixing stuff. “Stapler” we have one or two more joints were going to do then just getting the whole album mixed. Other than that, I’m always recording. Me and Pete have probably 20 other songs recorded that are either mixtape records or just didn’t make the album. A lot of different stuff of course.

Grumpy In America: Grumpy Old Men Interview with ScheduleOneMag.com

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Mike Schpitz

Recently, before the shoot for our upcoming video, America, myself and Pete Sayke sat down with ScheduleOneMag.com for our first on video interview. You might hear some info you didn’t know about Grumpy Old Men. Hear about how me and Pete Sayke first linked up, what to expect from Sunday Skool and some details about A3C. Shout out to Schedule One! America coming soon!

Kendrick Lamar “ADHD” Music Video

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Mike Schpitz

Kendrick is blowing the fuck up and rightfully so. His new video, ADHD just dropped so check it out. Also check out a cool interview with Kendrick on DX and a video of GAME, Snoop, Mos Def, Warren G, The Dogg Pound and more on stage to support Kendrick at one of his recent shows in LA. Dudes are really supporting Kendrick. You gotta love!

Kendrick Lamar Interview with HipHopDX

Mike Schpitz Interview With Splash! Topeka

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Mike Schpitz

With The Prize Package Volume 1 dropping tomorrow, I wanted to share an interview that I just had with frequent collaborators, Splash! Topeka. As always, the hometown love was in full effect. This time, Splash! got some low down about my favorite spots in Topeka as well as more information about The Prize Package itself. Check out a little portion of the interview below and the full thing at Splash! Topeka.

Mike Schpitz’s “Prize Package” on Splash! Topeka

Rapper Mike Schpitz has been making a name for himself on the Chicago rap scene, but he hasn’t forgotten his hometown roots. The Topeka native is paying homage to the city where he grew up with the release of his latest project - The Prize Package Vol. 1. Named for the quirky little burger joint at 1420 SE 6th Ave., Schpitz thought the title perfectly captured the diverse nature of the tracks collected for his new release.

“Basically, it’s a compilation of songs and features on other people’s songs that I’ve done pretty much in the past two years. They weren’t a part of any of the projects I’ve released like Sunday Drive,Love Potion and Stanley Ipkiss, but I still wanted to put the music together so people could download pretty much all of the other stuff I’ve done. Now it’s all in one place. It seemed kind of logical to call it The Prize Package – just a bunch of songs that aren’t specifically made to be together, but put together like an actual mixtape. Twenty-one tracks – it’s a pretty cool project. It will be available March 30 on DJBooth.net. They’ll have a page with the tracklist, production credits – all of that stuff. Just check it all out – you can actually stream it before you download it.”

Mike Schpitz’s “Prize Package” on Splash! Topeka

As always, BIG shout out to Splash! Topeka for the continued love and support. The Prize Package Volume 1 drops tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Refined Hype Interview With Mike Schpitz for My City Series

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Mike Schpitz

So far, so good with the first leak from Mike Murder. Mike Is Like dropped Sunday on DJBooth.net and hit everyone else yesterday. The feedback has been incredible. My guys over at RefinedHype.com, who are sponsoring Mike Murder, recently conducted an interview with Mike Schpitz aka ME, for their interview series called My City. I was extra excited about this interview because it gave me a chance to shed a little more light on MY city, which happens to be the capital of Kansas, Topeka. Check out part of the interview here and the rest only at RefinedHype.com.

My City: Mike Schpitz is Topeka High’s Best……..Rapper……….Ever

RefinedHype: You hail from the rarely hailed city of Topeka, Kansas. Do you feel like some people have a bias towards your work when they find out where you’re from?

Mike Schpitz:. I’m not sure how people feel about me and my music AFTER they actually hear the music and then find out I’m from Topeka but I think it’s safe to assume that not many people are checking for emcees to come out of Topeka, Kansas or any similar town across the country. If they see me and then see where I’m from before hearing the music, I definitely think people automatically write me off. I can’t lie because I would do the same thing. I think once people hear the music it’s a little harder to have that bias. More so than where I’m from, I am finding out that people judge me based on what I look like which for me, is kind of funny because no one expects anything. People are always taken back especially when I hit the stage.

RefinedHype: How do you think your music and career would be different if you lived in a more “major” city like L.A., New York, Atlanta etc.?

Mike Schpitz:. It’s hard to say what I would be doing musically if I was from a more major city. I probably wouldn’t even be doing music. I think it’s probably harder to get respect in bigger cities because you have so many talented people in those cities. In Kansas, there are definitely some talented people but the numbers are way smaller. My influences are drawn from all over too. I think if I was in a bigger city, I am gravitate towards music and sounds from that city or region. It definitely allowed me to be more open to hip hop from all over. Being in Chicago now has helped me really step my game up and go full force. There are so many different artists out here that I have to be able to stand out or I will get lost easily in the crowd. I have taken a lot of aspects of both my hometown, Topeka, Kansas and Chicago and used them in my music.

My City: Mike Schpitz is Topeka High’s Best……..Rapper……….Ever

I’m not sure how true “Topeka High’s Best………Rapper……Ever” is but hopefully I’m top 10.

Mike Schpitz Interview on HipHopBase.net

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Mike Schpitz

I recently got the opportunity to do an interview with the website HipHopBase.net. I wanted to share part of the interview and link everyone with their website as well.

HHB: Your from Topeka, Kansas? How is the hip hop scene progressing out there?

Mike Schpitz: Topeka doesn’t really have a hip hop scene at all. There are a few people who have done some stuff and who are known around the city but the scene is bigger in Lawrence and Kansas City. It’s crazy though because a couple of the dopest emcees I know are from Topeka. Our biggest rappers today are probably a cat named Evil Loc and a crew called DVS Minds. Those cats put out a project that was a Topeka classic. It’s still hard for artists of any genre to really find places to perform, record and share their music in Topeka. Hip Hop shows especially, are looked at as “dangerous” or rowdy so bars and venues don’t really want to have them. Lawrence, Kansas has a lot more stuff though. Even the Lawrence scene has seemed to die down lately though. Kansas City has Tech N9ne who is pretty much the man out in Kansas but there are other cats in KC and Lawrence making some good music.

HHB: A lot of regional artists have some sort of reference to thier city, what they put in a song that the rest of us don’t really get. Do you have any Kansas or Topeka references in your music that we wont understand, and if so could you elaborate on it please?

Mike Schpitz: I shout out certain people in Topeka especially in my song Roll Call. I shout out a lot of cats from Topeka. The video for Roll Call is also a tribute to Topeka. There are a lot of different locations that the video showcases that only Topeka people would know about. Top City is also just another name for Topeka. I call Topeka Paradise City sometimes too. I have some street references as well that only people in Topeka would know about.

HHB: Who inspired you the most to get into this line of work?

Mike Schpitz: There really wasn’t a particular person that inspired me to start rapping. It just kind of happened. I started writing poetry when I was like 14, rapped a little in high school, then started writing songs my sophomore year in college when my brother started making beats. I stay inspired primarily by the people I work with. All the producers, emcees and other people that I get to work with. And really just good music keeps me inspired to keep writing and making music.

Check out the rest of the interview at HipHopBase.net

Also, stayed tuned for my feature on their mixtape/album which will drop next year.

Sunday Drive featured on Frostclick and Frostwire

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Mike Schpitz

First off shout out Mike and my people at Flawless Hustle for getting Sunday Drive on Frostwire and Frostlick and everyone at Frostclick and Frostwire for featuring Sunday Drive. Last night, Sunday Drive went live on FC and FW and they featured an interview as well. This is a great look for myself, Phys Ed and Sunday Drive. Check out the interview here as well as the screen shot of the feature. If you haven’t already checked out Sunday Drive, download it here. We have moved well over 1000 copies so far and many more to come. Enjoy the album and let us know what you think.

LoveJones Frostclick Interview

Sunday Drive Download

Official Track list
1. Sunday Morning(Still Thinking About Saturday Night)
2. Sunday Drive
3. New World
4. Downtime
5. Phys Edison’s Brunch
6. Sit on the Moon
7. The One(My SV Shit)
8. Sunday Drive Midnight Mix
9. Had a Dream
10. B.I.G. Dreams
Bonus Tracks
11. The Get Up
12. They Gon Hate
13. Sucka MCs
14. Roll Call(Top City)

MikeSchpitz.com

Tag Archives: Interview