We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mikem Nahmir. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mikem below.

Mikem, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I’ve taken has definitely been separating myself from family and friends in order to be who I wanna be and live the life I wanna live. I got really tired of people telling “what to do” and “how” to do it. I hate when other people make decisions for me. It’s annoying and that’s why I took the risk I took and I don’t regret it in any way, shape or form. It worked out better for me being away from everyone that was trying to control me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

OK so for those who don’t know, I never wanted to be a rapper. It wasn’t a talent that I knew or even thought that I had until I had it. I’ve always been fascinated by old rap videos and rap music from the 90s. When I got out of prison in 2017, that’s when I finally started to focus on a skill I didn’t really know existed. I’m honestly a skateboarder first. I love skateboarding and I love everything about the community. When I was a kid I wanted to be a pro skateboarder because some of my friends are some of the best skateboarders in the world and I thought that I was gonna follow the same path but music started to stand out more than skateboarding once people told me that I should really focus on music because my sound is really different. I think it’s cool that music is something I can be therapeutic and it has served a very therapeutic purpose for me. That’s honestly why I do it. Everything is just therapy for me

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I definitely had to learn when it comes to making music and being this thing we call a “rapper” is the art of not taking everything personally. People are going to feel how they feel about whatever it is that you make and you just have to deal with that. Not every critic deserves a response and you don’t have to respond to everything that is negative or comes with bad energy behind it just because it’s your art that is being talked about. I used to think that I had to respond to all of the hate and all of the bad comments that come with the music that I make but when you look past it and you realize it’s just a bunch of people who are jealous of you and what you’re doing, everything starts to flow like water after that. I’ve also learned that you can burn a lot of bridges by taking things personally when it should’ve just been water under the bridge so to speak. You can’t let your emotions get in the way of making your future is better for yourself and the people around you. You gotta man up

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

I think if I could go back, I would definitely choose the same profession but I would just choose it way sooner. If I knew then what I know now, I feel like I would definitely be a lot further in life and not just with music but all the way throughout life in general. I have learned so much from making music and meeting other artist from the underground to the mainstream. I don’t think I would trade anything for what I’m doing right now because I’ve gone through so much in order to be where I am right now and I’m still going through more than most people know about in order to continue to be who I am and be the best version of myself

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @mikemnahmir
• Twitter:mikemnahmir

Image Credits
Cover photo shot by Drew Robinson Baby picture shot by my Mama Rest of photos shot by NotHollywoodTony