Virgin Islands Featured Artist: Mic Love
Mic Love Uno-Dos Uno-Dos is our latest featured artist, he began his musical journey at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School on the island of St. Thomas U.S.V.I. The artist and his brother began a group by the name of All My Way. In the beginning of his career he struggled with stage fright, until he was continually reassured that his vocals were always intact. Rather than being shy to step on to the stage he couldn't wait. When he began singing RnB in high school his inspiration was Boyz II Men, but as a Soca artist his inspirations are Bunji Garlin, Pumpa and KES.
His first performance as an artist took place in 2001, at a prep rally at his high school alongside his brother and an associate who was referred to as Keshaw or Kadafi. The group performed "That's the way it is" by Celine Dion and its safe to say they did an amazing job. Let's back track for a second to how it all began, before the performance took place. Believe it or not his friend Kadafi (A well known singer at the time) overheard him singing in the restroom and invited him to join him in singing at the prep rally. This was an exciting moment for the artist, but he didn't want to perform alone so he invited his brother to accompany him.
Mic love has since grown into quite the authentic artist that we all know and love. He has had many accomplishments since then including being a VI Ambassador. Being a VI ambassador in his words is an accolade that I'll never forget and means alot to me. Being awarded and rewarded for something you put alot of hard work into is beyond phenomenal. (Quoted By Mic Love)
There is nothing this young man can't accomplish, he's a pillar in the community, even in these times when we are facing a pandemic he manages to inspire. The Whole world challenge was circulating the internet to give hope. He woke up one morning to video of Tyler Perry's version of the Whole World Challenge. Tyler Perry had some of the finest R&B artist taking part, and Mic thought it was a dope idea. The island is filled with so many talented vocalist, so he decided to bring awareness to the Virgin islands by posting a video. Soon dozens of people started sharing and posting their own videos on their Facebook accounts. Senators, doctors and judges got involved as well, seeing the community come together with such a positive outcome was an amazing feeling. Seeing his timeline filled with positive and happy moments rather than seeing post about Covid-19 made it all worth it.
We may be at a stand still, but that doesn't stop Mic from making some serious moves to ensure his future is set. Without giving too much away he has some things in the works that can and will take him to the next level. He recently realized he's grown tremendously as an artist, after listening to all 40 of his songs. There is no where to go but up from here on out.
VI to the Bone, is one of Mic Love's most successful song in the Virgin Islands and many parts of the world. A.j. Ventura one of the producers on the Nzuri Riddim, reached out to him and said he had a riddim with his name on it. He listened to the riddim for about two days due to other projects lined up at the time. While listening to music this artist likes to have a clear head and heart. He went for a jog one evening and listened to the song and automatically began to hum the chorus. He started singing "way yo de way yo de" which is part of the hit sensation, he came up with chorus shortly after and as they say the rest is history.
Music doesn't just make itself, it takes an artist to create their sound. Studio sessions are another thing on the list of steps an artist has to take to make music beautiful, we asked the artist what a typical day in the studio is like for him and this was his response. Studio sessions are funny, when I'm at my work station I always have my headphones on. So if you're near me while I'm working I'll sound crazy. There is alot of humming, wrong keys, cracking vocals, and retakes. The reason for that is my music is written down at the time. I go into the studio, listen to the beat, hum to myself and just start singing the words. if it makes sense I leave it, and if it doesn't I delete it and try again. ( Highlighted was quoted by Mic Love)
Mic Love has already made his name as a viral sensation and he's done it once more. Rona don run from mehh. Rona Rona Rona. Swanks a very well known producer in the soca industry and locally, sent him a beat. He knew the beat was going to be dope, because when he pressed play and heard the guitars in the beginning of the song he just knew. He stopped the song because he likes to work with a fresh mind. At the time Mic was prepping for the upcoming carnival, which has since been postponed. After the pandemic started getting more serious he took some time off from the studio, because there was no rush anymore for carnival music at the moment. He said to himself, I need a Rona song because its a hot topic. Everyone and everything is all about Rona, so he thought I should do a rona song. People are home and quarantined and bored out of their minds why not entertain them. He wanted to make sure people were cheerful in anyway. Mic Love thought of the beat which Swanks had sent and then boom there it was. He began to record the first part. I met this girl her name was Rona. The first snippet was posted on Facebook, which was the only part he worked on at the time. When he saw the love the first video received he decided to do another. That resulted in the song going viral. The Rona song is now a hit in the USVI, Germany, Ukraine and every part of the world. The world is now pushing the song.
Mic Love is an authentic artist and has already made his way to the list of living legends in the territory. If you haven't had a chance to check out the Rona song head over to Youtube and check it out.
Written By: Minoca Alexander
Pc: Mic Love
Quotes were taken from Mic Love's Interview with us and placed in the article.
