Emcee MiKE L!VE is an Asheville emcee best known for his work with the group Free The Optimus along with C. Shreve the Professor and DJ Jet. While the group has been going strong for years, L!VE has been on a solo kick as of late, dropping an album and an EP just last year. Now he keeps that momentum going with another EP, One Giant Leap For Mankind.

Sometimes you don’t need to overthink things. Sometimes you just want to rock the mic and have some fun with it, and that’s exactly what MiKE L!VE is doing on One Giant Leap For Mankind. The beats are banging, they’ll get everyone nodding their heads and moving their feet, and then L!VE hops on the mic and rocks the crowd like the veteran emcee that he is. There are big hooks to sing along to, plenty of clever wordplay, and just enough personal lyricism to give the EP some depth as well. It’s a bass heavy EP that will make you want to turn your speakers up, and it bounces so much that it’s got a bright and sunny vibe to it. It will make the perfect soundtrack to roll around to in your car as the weather warms up and turns into spring. L!VE also brings in several friends to have fun, including Jrusalam, P.T.P., C. Shreve the Professor, and John Alex Harper, which just helps give the EP this live party atmosphere to it as everyone does their thing to get the audience worked up.

One Giant Leap For Mankind is another solid release from MiKE L!VE, who is in the middle of a really strong solo stretch right now. The whole thing just sounds like so much fun, and he has clearly put the work in over the years to make something like this seem so effortless while coming together well with great pop structure and keen lyricism.