Features : In “Motivation” and album Legends, Mike Tone brings golden age hip-hop into the 21st century

The animated video is like taking the tour through a kaleidoscope.

Mike Tone is a producer, has been for more than a decade. “Motivation,” dropping March 29, and Legends, the album it comes from, are full of beats and mixes from Mike and others and feature performing artists from what he regards as the Golden Era of hip-hop.

“I grew up on rap,” he said. “I was a young kid when the whole gangsta rap movement started, so I was heavily influenced by that era. I’m a huge fan.”

“Motivation” exemplifies the vision that created the Legends album. This track alone features five of the rappers whose music he grew up with: MC Eiht; Richie Rich; Havikk, Prodeje and Young Prod from South Central Cartel. Singer L.V. is featured on the hook.

“That’s six features on this one song, and this is just one of the songs off the album. It’s an example of what you can expect.”

The song and the album are, he says, “a melting pot of dope ’90s artists.”

“I’m not sure where you’re gonna go these days to find all these ’90s MCs on one album, right? So, that’s the concept of not only the song but the album.”

“Motivation” is the third and final track from the album to be released as a single, joining “Breathe” and “Soldiers.”

Mike grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He now lives and works in Detroit. This project, the singles and the album, began with his desire to display his production chops and, at the same time, collaborate with artists whose music inspired his youth.

“I started making contacts through social media, connecting with rappers. I did a collaboration with MC Eiht where he dropped a verse for me, and then connected with the guys from South Central Cartel.”

From there, he said, the idea “kind of blew up.”

“A lot of these ’90s rappers, that a lot of folks in my generation grew up to, they’re either not releasing music anymore or the fans just aren’t really checking for them,” he said.

“You know, we’re all growing up, we have busy lives, families, and the music market is so saturated right now with new stuff. The idea of putting out this compilation where I can bring all those old-school rappers together and put everything out on one album — I feel like that’s a great concept and something that folks in my generation can get hyped to.”

“Motivation” and Legends, clearly, are a labor of love.

But the project is more than nostalgia and more than Mike Tone.

“It’s a producer project, me being the main producer, but I wanted to mix that up as well, so I got some up-and-coming producers that I’m a fan of to contribute.”

Those include StarKore and C-Lance.

“They’re more underground and they’re new guys, so we’re mixing it up — all these old-school ’90s rappers and some new producers.”

Mike also worked with platinum certified engineer Corey Stocker to finalize the mixing and mastering for the project.

If the project is well received, Legends may end up being a volume one.

“I’ve already started on a volume two. The idea is to get some legendary producers, like Beats by the Pound, who produced for No Limit, and E-A-Ski. I think it would be really cool to collaborate with some old school producers as well.”

And after that, who knows, maybe an ongoing series.

For now, there is “Motivation.”

“There’s a lot of bangers on the rest of the album, too, another track with six different rappers from the No Limit Soldiers, a track with D12, another with Project Pat and some of the Three 6 Mafia crew.”

“I’m very excited about this album.”

See where he goes by connecting to Mike Tone on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

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