The Break Presents – Mike Dimes

Sometimes all it takes for an artist to find themselves is a community of support. Mike Dimes, a 21-year-old rapper who calls San Antonio, Texas home, didn't find his way to rap music until he had a consistent friend group. A military child, Dimes had to move often, eventually settling down in the Lone Star State. Once the aspiring rhymer decided he wanted to rap at 17, he had the support from his friends in his new city. His style is anchored by his approach, which feels like a blend of Memphis and Atlanta rap as he describes his world of girls and money as if it's typical.

Before he experienced success, Mike nearly quit music. His song "My Story" took off last year after its March release, keeping him in the game. The track has nearly 9 million streams on Spotify, buoyed by its traction on TikTok—he now has over 2 billion views on the platform. This opened the door for Mike's song "No Trends" to do the same, which is even bigger at 13 million streams on Spotify.

Outside of rap, Mike Dimes was a rising talent in other areas and had defined goals. He was a ranked basketball player in his state, then moved on from sports to college in pursuit of an architecture degree. Despite how well Mike was doing, he chose to pursue a career in hip-hop, seeking to not only blow up, but become one of the best at it. As his streams continued to go up and the success of his 2021 project, DLOG—short for his nickname, DoubleLambOG—his dreams became much closer to reality.

He's beginning to feel the love on the national scale. Earlier this month, Spotify selected him as one of their 10 Most Necessary Artists to Watch in 2022, using their playlist to highlight newer acts. Seeing his face on a video billboard in the middle of Times Square says a lot about how far he's come in a short period of time, especially for a hip-hop newcomer who nearly walked away from music.

Watch Mike Dimes' episode of The Break: Live below.

Follow Mike Dimes on SoundCloud and Instagram.

Standouts:

"My Story"

"No Trends"

"Backroom"

DLOG

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