Local Folks; Mike Posner: A record deal with a major label
Posted by Eric Brown | Filed under Apartments Birmingham MI, Apartments Clawson MI, Apartments Ferndale MI, Apartments Troy MI, Urbane, UrbaneApts
The good folks over at 944 have a great feature on a young local music guy, titled The Unreal Deal. Landing a record deal with a major label would send almost any young artist into a frenzy. But not Mike Posner.
Posner is one of those extraordinary people who seems to have it all. He graduated from Groves High School in Birmingham, Mich., with a 4.4 GPA; got into Duke University, where he’s studying business; and now, at 21, he’s juggling a demanding course load in his senior year while traveling the country playing hip-hop shows.
His passion for creating music started at age 13, when he’d use his parents’ computer to make beats. He later taught himself the keyboard, and before long, he was composing lyrics.
Once in college, it didn’t matter what he was doing — songs would be streaming in his head like a radio left on in the next room. Which brings Posner to today, and his relentless drive to create the sweetest ear candy listeners have ever heard … from his house off-campus … in between studying.
When Posner released his freshman mixtape, A Matter of Time, all the majors lined up. He eventually chose J Records so he could retain the most creative control. Although now he has the opportunity to record at large, impressive studios, he still prefers his home. “The fact is, I can walk in to my label and play something that I did in a big studio, and then play them something I did in my basement, and nobody has any idea which is which,” he says.
But when he does go into the studio, he has a few tricks to help him feel comfortable. “I wear basketball shorts and hotel slippers.”
Posner released his sophomore mixtape, One Foot Out the Door, in October of 2009. Now, fans all over the world are getting familiar with the artist and experiencing the Posner Power. Fans can download his latest venture for free on his Web site, Mikeposner.com, or they can take a quick listen by visiting his myspace page, myspace.com/mikeposner. But be warned: Trying to listen to it only once is like trying to have only one M&M. It ain’t gonna happen.
With tantalizing remixes of “Evil Woman” and “Traveling Man,” Posner somehow manages to take chart-toppers and make them even better. But he doesn’t plan on making remixed songs his schtick: “Those are just my freebies,” he says. “I do pride myself in taking challenging covers and flipping them to make them mine. But the songs that really shut it down at my concerts are my originals.”
All of Posner’s originals have that dimply-smile pop appeal, but he’s a hip-hop artist to the core. He grew up in Southfield, Mich., listening to De La Soul, Mos Def and Wu-Tang Clan, and fans can hear these influences in both mixtapes. He also works closely with Detroit’s Big Sean, who’s helping to define Posner’s sound even more with features on “Cooler Than Me,” “Smoke and Drive” and “Speed of Sound.”
These days, Posner’s iPod is shuffling more electronic music than anything else. As a first-time listener, prepare to be audio-blindsided by electro keyboard runs and even a sample of the New Age artist Enya. You’ll get all this, with the velvety-smooth falsetto of Timberlake and the production skills of Timbaland. He’s a master of the unexpected, but what listeners can expect is to become addicted, and fast.
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Tags: Detroit Hip Hop, Groves High School in Birmingham, Mich, Mike Posner
