Under his producer alias dj blackpower, MIKE handles all but two of the album’s 24 tracks. (GAWD produced “African Sex Freak Fantasy,” while Laron is behind “Snake Charm.”) The beats range from misty loops that evoke the sentimentality of Count Bass D’s Dwight Spitz (“What U Say U Are,” “Let’s Have a Ball”) to cataclysmic landscapes (“plz don’t cut my wings,” “should be!”). Burning Desire illustrates MIKE’s evolution as a beatmaker, each song a tweezer-perfected terrarium of manipulated vocal samples, chunky loops, and rattling drums; the pockets of air MIKE finds within them make room for some of his most dexterous rapping yet. Take “Zap!”, where he bobs and weaves between brass stabs, or “African Sex Freak Fantasy,” where his words ricochet off walls of distorted bass like a rubber handball. The Liv.e and Venna-assisted “U think Maybe?” marks the first time that MIKE has incorporated live instrumentation in his production discography. After two minutes of wistful call-and-response, the London saxophonist’s somber performance and Liv.e’s aching voice melt into tranquil harmony.
As a prolific artist whose albums pull from a pool of familiar collaborators, MIKE’s music can sometimes feel insular, culled from an isolationist universe with little external influence. Burning Desire doesn’t quite crack his world open with shocking surprise twists—Earl Sweatshirt returns, while Crumb’s Lila Ramani and the mysterious London singer mark william lewis make for refreshing guests. But it does point toward potential expansion.
Earlier this year, MIKE told me that he and his manager planned to operate his career like a “mom-and-pop store,” aiming to stretch opportunities as far as possible while staying small. Even with sponsorships from Supreme and Pepsi, events like Young World demonstrate at least one form of commitment to that plan by prioritizing accessibility, intimacy, and community over self-gain. According to an Okayplayer interview, MIKE passed on a headline show and instead used the fees from SummerStage, the organization that funded Young World, to pay artists on his own self-curated lineup. Burning Desire feels similar: an adventure that preserves the homegrown spirit of MIKE’s music while taking a half-step toward something even more ambitious. “Thebe showed me Alc money/Still be hella proud ’bout all the shit I did without money,” he asserts on “Ho-Rizin.” On Burning Desire, MIKE proves he’s still discovering ways to sustain that pride.
