Mic Righteous

Mic Righteous, a British rapper celebrated for his raw social commentaries laced with angst, has forged notable partnerships with established figures including Emeli Sandé and Ed Sheeran. Born Rocky Takalobighashi and raised in the coastal town of Margate, he endured a difficult childhood marked by parental abuse and neglect before relocating to live with his brother, the former light-middleweight boxer Mehrdud Takaloo. Channeling accumulated rage and turmoil into creative expression, the aspiring artist began writing lyrics and laying down tracks at a nearby studio, ultimately shaping a unified yet untamed body of work that prompted his adoption of the Mic Righteous name to embody his sonic identity. Early momentum followed swiftly, as his mixtapes amassed thousands of downloads while individual tracks amassed substantial YouTube views.

Recognition from peers such as the Game, Devlin, and Wretch 32 soon followed amid his rising profile. In 2012 Takalobighashi appeared on the New Machine Remix of Ed Sheeran’s “Give Me Love” alongside a remix of the Naughty Boy and Emeli Sandé track “Wonder.” His fierce approach found full expression on the Open Mic EP, his inaugural official independent project issued in 2013, which earned broad praise and drew stylistic and lyrical parallels to hip-hop stalwarts Plan B and Eminem. Subsequent live support slots alongside Kano and Wretch 32 solidified his stage presence and underscored the combative edge of both his persona and his material.

September 2016 brought an invitation to perform at the Climate Revolution Presents IOU event in London, where he shared the bill with Vivienne Westwood and representatives from Project O. The next month saw the arrival of his debut album Dreamland, which drew further acclaim for its inventive lyricism. In 2019 he briefly adopted the Mic Reckless alias for the album I Am Reckless; by the following year he had reverted to the Righteous name and released Suicycle, an album exploring the aftermath of his sister’s fiancé’s suicide.