Mike Mictlan

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Mike Mictlan

| background = solo_singer

| image = Mike Mictlan, Scottsdale, 2012.jpg

| image_size =

| landscape =

| alt = A man with a mohawk in a black T-shirt and open black jacket holds a microphone close to his mouth

| caption = Mictlan performing in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2012

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| birth_name = Michael Thomas Marquez{{cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/888130628 |title=BENICIO DEL TORSO |website=ASCAP |publisher=American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers |access-date=April 27, 2023}}

| alias = Mictlan

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|07|08}}

| birth_place =

| origin = Minneapolis, Minnesota

| death_date =

| death_place =

| genre = {{flatlist|

}}

| occupations = Rapper

| instruments =

| years_active = 2001–present

| label = Doomtree Records

| associated_acts = {{flatlist|

}}

| website = {{URL|www.doomtree.net/mikemictlan/}}

}}

Michael Thomas Marquez (born July 8, 1982), better known by his stage name Mike Mictlan ({{ipa|[ˈmikt͡ɬaːn]}}{{cite web |title=Hand Over Fist |url=https://mikemictlan.bandcamp.com/album/hand-over-fist |website=bandcamp.com |accessdate=5 June 2020}}), is a rapper from Los Angeles, California,{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20151013/doomtrees-mike-mictlan-coming-home-for-la-concert-at-el-rey-theatre|title=Doomtree's Mike Mictlan coming home for L.A. concert at El Rey Theatre|language=en|access-date=2017-02-03}} who is currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He is a founding member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree and the hip hop duo The Mercenaries.{{cite web|url=http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2012/04/26/interview-mike-mictlan-of-doomtree/|title=Interview: Mike Mictlan of Doomtree|publisher=Verbicide Magazine|first=Matt|last=Edmund|date=April 26, 2012}} Mike Mictlan has released four solo albums and is currently signed to Doomtree Records. City Pages listed him as the 10th best Minnesota rapper in 2012.{{cite news|url=http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2012/05/top_20_best_minnesota_rappers_10_1.php |title=Top 20 best Minnesota rappers: #10-1 |newspaper=City Pages |first=Jack |last=Spencer |date=May 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919025644/http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2012/05/top_20_best_minnesota_rappers_10_1.php |archivedate=September 19, 2014 }}

Early life

Marquez was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Vietnam veteran father from Venice, Italy, and an American mother, who is from Anaheim.{{Cite news|url=http://www.rapstation.com/article/mike-mictlan-pt1|title=Mike Mictlan from Doomtree: The RAPstation Interview Part I|date=2014-11-12|newspaper=Rapstation|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-03}} Mike is of Mexican descent.{{Cite web|url=http://www.citypages.com/music/mike-mictlan-i-was-the-aztec-ancient-interstellar-galactic-traveler-6647437|title=Mike Mictlan|last=Spencer|first=Jack|website=City Pages|access-date=2017-02-03}} During his childhood, he grew up in Los Angeles with a father who was battling cancer and without a mother as she was in prison for most of the time he was growing up.{{Cite web|url=http://www.citypages.com/music/mike-mictlan-i-was-the-aztec-ancient-interstellar-galactic-traveler-6647437|title=Mike Mictlan|last=Spencer|first=Jack|website=City Pages|access-date=2017-02-03}} At the age of 11, he had the dream of becoming a full-time hip hop artist and being part of a hip hop group.{{Cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/doomtree-s-mike-mictlan-plays-it-for-real/280960412/|title=Doomtree's Mike Mictlan plays it for real|newspaper=Star Tribune|access-date=2017-02-03}}

By the time Marquez reached his teenage years, he was sent to live with his uncle in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended Hopkins High School where he would create the foundations of Doomtree with P.O.S, Paper Tiger, MK Larada and Lazerbeak.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hermanshideaway.com/event/391679-mike-mictlan-doomtree-denver/|title=Mike Mictlan (of DOOMTREE) - Tickets - Herman's Hideaway - Denver, CO - November 3rd, 2013|website=Herman's Hideaway|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-03}} When asked on meeting P.O.S on his first day at Hopkins High School, Marquez stated, "He had a little patch of blue in his hair, and he came up and asked me if I wanted to buy this homemade punk zine he had for $1.”{{Cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/doomtree-s-mike-mictlan-plays-it-for-real/280960412/|title=Doomtree's Mike Mictlan plays it for real|newspaper=Star Tribune|access-date=2017-02-03}}

Following high school, he returned to Los Angeles. During this time, he held various odd jobs, including working as a butcher.{{Cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/music-merchants-of-doom/26107959/|title=Music: Merchants of Doom|newspaper=Star Tribune|access-date=2017-02-04}}

After four years of living in Los Angeles, Marquez participated in a tour with Doomtree in 2004, being openers for Sage Francis. This eventually lead Marquez into moving back to Minneapolis and officially help create Doomtree as a hip hop collective and label.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rapreviews.com/interview/doomtree08.html|title=RapReview Feature for August 12, 2008 - Doomtree Interview|website=www.rapreviews.com|access-date=2017-02-03}}

His first appearance on record was on P.O.S's short lived hip hop group Cenospecies's album Indefinition in 2002. His feature was recorded through the phone while he was still living in Los Angeles.{{Cite news|url=http://www.startribune.com/doomtree-s-mike-mictlan-plays-it-for-real/280960412/|title=Doomtree's Mike Mictlan plays it for real|newspaper=Star Tribune|access-date=2017-02-03}}

Musical career

= 2005-2008: ''False Hopes'' and ''The Mercenaries'' =

In 2005, Marquez released his first album False Hopes Eight: Deity for Re-Hire. The False Hopes album series consisted of 15 releases{{Cite web|url=http://www.doomtree.net/2015/12/29/doomtree-year-in-review/|title=Doomtree Year In Review {{!}} Doomtree|access-date=2017-02-03}} from Doomtree and its members, such as Dessa's debut or Doomtree's album.{{Cite web|url=http://store.doomtree.net/product/fh-xv-false-hopes-15|title=FH:XV (False Hopes 15) - Doomtree|last=Store|first=Doomtree|website=Doomtree Store|access-date=2017-02-03}} False Hopes Eight: Deity for Re-Hire was released without the help of a record label or distribution, instead using money earned from Doomtree's shows, who would release the album independently. In 2007, he released the album The First Chapter as The Mercenaries with Mnemonic, on Top Nation Records. So far, it is the only Mike Mictlan album that was not released on Doomtree.{{Citation|title=♫ The Mercenaries - Mnemonic Presents The Mercenaries. Listen @cdbaby|url=https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mnemonic07|accessdate=2017-02-03}}

= 2009-2013: ''Hand Over Fist'', ''No Kings'' and ''Snaxxx'' =

File:Mike Mictlan.jpg

Following this and Doomtree's False Hopes, Doomtree released their debut LP in 2008, with Mictlan releasing his follow up album Hand Over Fist{{cite news|url=http://www.citypages.com/2008-10-22/music/mike-mictlan-and-lazerbeak-hand-over-fist/|title=Mike Mictlan and Lazerbeak: Hand Over Fist|last=Green|first=Loren|date=October 22, 2008|newspaper=City Pages|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025195917/http://www.citypages.com/2008-10-22/music/mike-mictlan-and-lazerbeak-hand-over-fist/|archivedate=October 25, 2008}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2009_01_handoverfist.html|title=Mike Mictlan & Lazerbeak :: Hand Over Fist :: Doomtree Records|last=Woods|first=Emilee|date=January 20, 2009|publisher=RapReviews}} a collaborative album with Lazerbeak, the same year. In 2011, Doomtree released their critically acclaimed album No Kings.{{Citation|title=No Kings by Doomtree|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/no-kings/doomtree|accessdate=2017-02-03}}

He also curated one of the Doomtree Blowout shows at 7th Street Entry in December 2011.{{cite news|url=http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2011/12/mike_mictlan_blowout_entry.php|title=Mike Mictlan's Blowout night in the Entry, 12/5/11|last=Spencer|first=Jack|date=December 6, 2011|newspaper=City Pages|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819023523/http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2011/12/mike_mictlan_blowout_entry.php|archivedate=August 19, 2012}} Ada Katarina of Mezzic described the night as "a high-energy mix of styles, ages, love for the rap scene that has supported him and a whole lot of wag."{{cite web|url=http://mezzic.com/2011/12/07/concert-review-doomtree-blowout-vii-curated-by-mike-mictlan-at-the-7th-street-entryfirst-avenue-minneapolis-mn/|title=Concert Review: Doomtree Blowout VII curated by Mike Mictlan at the 7th Street Entry (Minneapolis)|last=Katarina|first=Ada|date=December 7, 2011|publisher=Mezzic}} This span of his career to currently, he and his Doomtree cohorts toured extensively, with them booking many solo and group tours both nationally and overseas.{{Cite web|url=http://theknow.denverpost.com/2012/01/19/doomtree-interview/44302/|title=The Reverb Interview: Mike Mictlan and Dessa Darling of Doomtree|date=2012-01-19|website=The Know|access-date=2017-02-03}}

The next year in September, he released Snaxxx for free via his bandcamp.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2012/09/doomtree_mike_mictlan_snaxxx_mixtape_download.php|title=Doomtree's Mike Mictlan debuts SNAXXX! mixtape (Download)|last=Fischer|first=Reed|date=September 27, 2012|publisher=Gimme Noise|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930022628/http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2012/09/doomtree_mike_mictlan_snaxxx_mixtape_download.php|archivedate=September 30, 2012}}

In 2013, Mictlan spent 72 hours staying in a mental ward, where he was detained due to a drug problem he had been having at the time.{{Cite news|url=http://www.rapstation.com/article/mike-mictlan-pt2|title=Mike Mictlan from Doomtree: The RAPstation Interview Part 2|date=2015-01-01|newspaper=Rapstation|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-03}}

= 2014-present: ''Hella Frreal'' and ''All Hands'' =

In 2014, Mictlan released Hella Frreal, a ten-song LP featuring artists such as Ceschi and production from Cecil Otter and Lazerbeak, among others.{{Cite news|url=http://www.greenroommagazine.com/blog/2015/6/9/hella-frreal-and-free-guac-w-mike-mictlan|title=HELLA FRREAL and free guac' w/ Mike Mictlan|newspaper=Greenroom Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-03}} Doomtree's third album, All Hands, was released in 2015.