Mike Jones

It’s not entirely unusual for the hip hop genre to throw up some genuine eccentrics down the years - who could forget Ol’ Dirty Bastard and his many legendary instances of erratic behaviour, from his “Wu-Tang is for the children” speech to the many bizarre interviews he gave that you can find on YouTube without too much difficulty - and Mike Jones - surprisingly, for a rapper, that’s actually his real name - is certainly amongst ODB’s number on that score. Coming from the same kind of southern scene as the likes of Paul Wall, Slim Thug and Chamillionaire in the early noughties, Jones released his debut record, Who Is Mike Jones?, in 2005, alongside a slew of unusual marketing methods which included coming up with his own catchphrase - “Mike Jones, Who! Mike Jones, Who!” as well as handing out t-shirts at his gigs that had his mobile phone number printed on them. He’s currently lining up album number three, Where Is Mike Jones?, which is likely to follow the same southern template as before; look out for live shows in his native U.S. around that time, as he tends to brings his character and personality to the stage in genuinely thrilling fashion.