Brooklyn-based label 10K is making it a priority to kick down sonic confines. Last year, label founder MIKE told Rolling Stone that the positive response to Pinball, a departure from his purist-assuaging wheelhouse, helped invigorate his creativity. “Sometimes fans be so hooked onto you being one type of artist that at a certain point I’m like, ‘Damn, not my fans bullying me into thinking I could only do one style of rapping.’”
He said the process for the first Pinball, where he traded soulful loops for Seltzer’s energetic, synth-driven production, helped him unlock new creative pathways. “I think the more niggas loosen away from that shit and treat music as a whole, you’ll be surprised at what collaborations could come to life through shit like that, or what little discoveries could come to life during that shit,” he said. After releasing January’s Showbiz! he’s double backed with Pinball II.
When you’re playing pinball in an arcade, you’re pulling back the lever and getting your entertainment from seeing where things go. That’s exactly the vibe that MIKE and Tony Seltzer imbued into Pinball II. MIKE’s musical malleability is rooted in his mastery of flow. He has a signature swaying cadence and the ear to find the pocket to unfurl it over any beat. That allows him to sound right at home over Seltzer’s beats, which roam the range of popular rap production. On intro track “Sin City,” they lock listeners into the roller coaster seat and mash skyward; the song’s surging synths and full 808s immediately orient listeners into mixtape yore, setting the tone for the entirety of the project. You don’t know what’s coming next, but you’re excited to hear MIKE try it out.
Pinball II cues to mixtape culture without outright having a DJ host it or putting a tag on every song. The album’s 17 tracks run at just 33 minutes — 12 of those tracks come in between 1:30 and 2:25. Such svelteness allows the album to breeze by. Seltzer begins many of the tracks (and ends some) with pitched-up (or down) snippets of the upcoming song. The smooth “Dolemite” pitches the melodic vocals down at the front, while “Money & Power” stutters the kick drum, then slides down the scale amid dancehall sirens. On “Prezzy,” he speeds up the front and slows the song at the end — on that track we hear the classic “real trap shit” Trapaholics tag. The discernment with which Seltzer employs these elements makes them feel like more of an instrumentation choice than an outright declaration that project is a mixtape.
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Throughout Pinball II, MIKE touches on topics similar to most of his catalog. And he also covers the same thematic ground that many others have on this kind of production. While there’s a perception of a large thematic gulf between MIKE, who frequently explores themes of pro-Blackness and mental health trials, and a rapper vying to be the next Atlanta trap star, Pinball II projects a universality. On “Sin City,” he flexes, “I almost touched 100K I’m reppin’ 10K,” also deftly shouting out his label. “Belt,” which feels like a summer-ready nineties R&B sample, shows him lamenting haters: “hella niggas frownin’, its confusin’ I aint fail.“ On “Hell Date,” he laments, “I be lyin’, you be lyin’/Think we lifemates.” Whether it’s Braggadocio, toxic love, or lamenting haters, many rappers cover the same ground. Trying to limit what beats they do so over makes no sense for anybody.
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That said, MIKE adds his personal flair to the proceedings, like he did on “Sin City.” He rhymes, “I was broke used to steal/Stealin’ clothes for my peers,” which many rappers have also expressed, but not all of them have his self-awareness to connect “tryna cope, tryna heal” to the rhyme scheme, deepening the reflection from mere menace to a cry out amid treacherous conditions.
Whether it’s the gated, ethereal sample on the Niontay-assisted “Shaq & Kobe” or “Chest Painz,” where keys, sparse drums, and a random video game sound effect sound like a doleful rainstorm, MIKE delivers over all kinds of vibes throughout Pinball II. Sideshow, Lunchbox, and Earl round out the project’s features, with the latter offering another strong verse on “Jumanji.” Who knows where the prolific MIKE will go next, but Pinball II shows that he’ll excel in any direction he wants.
