One in a Million: It’s Hard to be Mike

Michael Millions is an up-and-coming hip-hop artist and music engineer whose roots are planted and thriving in Richmond. It’s the city he refers to in “Sirens,” on his 2018 album Hard to be King, as “once one of those capitals where those murders be.”

It’s a calm Wednesday evening in the city’s East End, and at the beginning of a dead-end street lies Michael Millions’ townhouse. The blinds are closed, the grass sits uncut and a faint beat emanates from the house.

Past the front door, the beat becomes less muffled. A haze is in the air and the smell of incense hits the nose. At the end of a hallway is a living room, or what appears to be.

“Could you turn my headphones up a little bit?” Millions, 35, calls out from the back-left corner of the room behind his makeshift recording booth.

Depending on the day, Millions’ house — or as most people say, “Mike’s house” — could be a typical suburban living space, or a hub for Richmond’s growing hip-hop scene, hosting such artists and friends as Nickelus F, Fly Anakin, and Young Flexico.

Millions is an up-and-coming hip-hop artist and music engineer whose roots are planted and thriving in Richmond. It’s the city he refers to in “Sirens,” on his 2018 full-length album Hard to be King, as “once one of those capitals where those murders be.”

The artist was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and raised in the River City. His mom was a dentist, and his dad was in the Navy. Millions received a bachelor’s degree in mass communications with a focus in photo/film from Norfolk State University, but he always knew he just wanted to make music.

“My parents never told me what to be. I always told my parents I was going to be a rapper, and they would just be like, ‘Did you turn them college applications in?’”

After a short run in the communications field, Millions ventured into IT. He made music and worked in the IT department at the Bank of America in downtown Richmond until his job was dissolved.

The same day he got the call, he got a check in the mail for a music project he was a part of. That’s when Millions made the choice to leap headfirst into music.

By Gessler Santos-Lopez, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Michael Millions performs live at Wonderland RVA in downtown Richmond on Feb. 28. This was Mike’s last stop on his Silkys and Switchblades Tour with fellow Richmond artist Nickelus F. The two artists performed at venues throughout the Southeast for a month.

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