Mike Floss
Though The Spin is only vaguely familiar with the series of Christian church services held to recruit new converts, Friday night’s Mike Floss show felt like a revival in a lot of ways. Hip-hop in Music City — while chock-full of surprises, connected through a close-knit community and much more diverse than any outsider could imagine — can be tough to follow (or even find) if you don’t know what you’re looking for or who to ask. Local MCs rarely headline mainstream spaces like Exit/In, and if house shows, DIY spaces and basement parties aren’t on your radar, local hip-hop probably isn’t either.
It doesn’t help that the story of Nashville’s rap legacy is known to much of the universe outside Davidson County through a tiny constellation of stars like Young Buck — who, while they are working, have not had a track that made a national impact in years. That leaves plenty of work for Floss to do in order to make his name. But in the build-up over the past decade to his first full-length album, he’s developed as much stage presence, lyrical virtuosity and other necessary credentials to put our pin in the map and make it stick this time.
To our chagrin, we arrived too late to get a taste of openers FlugameQ and Michael da Vinci. We rolled in to find instantly recognizable dread-headed producer ace Shmuck the Loyal behind the decks. With the stage decorated in helium balloons spelling out “FLOSS,” the up-and-coming MC took the stage to boisterous applause from a venue barely half full — mind you, half full of folks who wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
From the title of his LP Tennessee Daydreams to his frequent shout-outs to key players in his support system, the Floss brand is firmly rooted in Nashville. He ripped through what felt like a well-coordinated outpouring of personal and emotionally-charged songs, largely from the aforementioned album, and we really can’t repeat the word “personal” enough. While confident, charismatic and energetic enough to carry the performance by himself (there were no guests in this one-man show), Floss was intent on exposing something deeper.
Mike Floss
On more than one occasion, Floss asked for the audience’s respect, meaning silence, while he emphasized his favorite and most personal verses, which he recited a capella to the quieted room. He spoke openly and honestly about his deep-seated need to perform, the importance of participation in the hip-hop community and the cardinal sin of leaving one’s roots behind in search of hype and fame.
Nashville has seen its share of flashes in the pan across all genres, but Mike Floss is something different entirely. As his style and career grow and takes shape, it feels like Music City’s rap scene is following close behind, with strong work coming from a wide variety of artists — which is a great thing, because it’s going to take more than one artist making his mark for beats and bars to outshine Nashville’s banjo-and-fiddle legacy. Floss seems in no hurry to outgrow Nashville, but rather, to grow Nashville along with him.
See our slideshow for more photos.
In The Spin — the Scene's live review column — staffers and freelance contributors review concerts under a collective byline.
