New York City-based hip-hop artist Mic Nickels teams up with Wu-Tang Clan legend Method Man on “El Matador,” recently released via Autodope Records along with three remixes.
Mic explains, “This track was originally slated to feature MF DOOM. He agreed before he passed but never completed it. Eventually, we filled the slot with Method Man, which was incredible. A complete honor for him to hear my music and say yea, I can get with that! The idea behind the track was to discuss how one deals with their opponents, almost how a matador plays with their aggressor. The premise came to me after reading ‘The Sun Also Rises,’ by Hemingway. I wrote and recorded it before any emcee listened, so it doesn’t cater towards Meth or anyone else’s style. Just pure poetry.”
He goes on, adding, “This is the final single from the album ‘Bars for Days,’ released 12/21, which also comes with my ethnographic memoir that bares the same title and cover. Readers can access the album directly from the book and will find certain stories correspond with the music directly.”
Not only a solo artist, Mic Nickels, aka Nickel Five or Nickel Killsmics, fronted jazz-fused hip-hop outfit, Nickel and Dime Ops, and has worked with Ian Hendrickson-Smith from The Roots, Lawrence Leathers, Brandon “Bizzy” Hollemon, Jean Baylor, Method Man, Timbo King, Rah Digga, Rockness Monsta, and Kurious.
Mic has shared the stage with Pitbull, Gregory Porter, Jeru the Damaja, The Alkaholiks, The Skatalites, and Biz Markie, as well as performing at venues throughout the U.S. and Europe.
“El Matador” opens on an operatic pastiche rolling into a tight and right rhythm, drenched in deep, vibrating textures. A Spanish-flavored trumpet infuses the tune with Spaghetti-Western-like auras, giving the song an Ennio Morricone feel of majesty. With their cutting-edge flows, Mic and Method Man imbue the lyrics with imminent tangs.
“At first there were two now there’s one / Ashes to ashes what’s done is done / Beat of the drums raging fire in his eyes / In the end only one will rise.”
Fresh and innovative, on “El Matador,” Mic Nickels and Method Man take the archetypal hip-hop sound to new levels of brilliance.