Looking like he belongs on the back of a milk carton, Portland rapper Milc is probably the only white guy that could have been in Dipset. His laissez-faire attitude to life pairs with his gritty, drug through the trash type bars to produce songs for the average joe. The rhymes, however, are anything but average. On his latest album, Neutral Milc Motel, he flaunts his talent for piecing together lyrics that stop the listener in their tracks.
Hailing from Seattle’s sister city, Milc embraces the dark and gray environment, and it reflects in his lyrics. “What I like, gettin’ fucked up and rhymin’ through some grimy loops.” He chooses producers who help add that grainy nostalgic hip-hop feeling to his songs. On this project, Televangel does a phenomenal job tapping into that grimy aesthetic that Milc is looking for while still keeping it smooth and refined.
Completely accurate and 100% real photo of Milc in the flesh | Photo by DJ Mr. Mom (@AndAllMusicIs)
Purchase Neutral Milc Motel Vinyl Record on Qrates
Standout tracks for me are, “Dinner with Jay-Z,” “Red Scare,” and “Waterproof.” Although, if you ask me tomorrow, I’d probably have a different answer for you as I like certain songs for different reasons.
All the artists featured on Neutral Milc Motel match the energy and add to the overall quality of the project; artists like Deniro Farrar, Defcee, Sleep Sinatra and Zilla Rocca are on the album. Also featured is AJ Suede who happens to be another one of my favorite gloomy, rainy weather rappers. Their collaboration together seems natural, and I enjoyed how the tone of their voices balanced each other out.
Stream Neutral Milc Motel
Milc x Andy Savoie Windbreaker XL
Earlier this year in March, Milc released his collaboration with Andy Savoie titled, Windbreaker. He even released an extra five tracks for the album in an XL edition over the summer. I’m still running that album back at least once a week with a couple of the tracks still on my playlist, T’$ Money Mix. There are so many standout tracks like, “Coastin’,” “Blue Faces,” and “Stackhouse.” To be honest, there isn’t a track that I’d skip on any of these projects.
Mr. Blanco’s Opus
Later in the spring, Mr. Blanco’s Opus was released as a collaboration between Milc and OPVS SOUND. He’s spitting “bars [that] go over their head or under their skin,” with a variety of double entendres and metaphors that leave you on the edge of your seat. Milc went in on this album more so than the others, with tracks like “Fuck Elon Musk,” and “Ken vs. Ryu” that pack an extra punch, if you will.
Milc Discusses the Art of Rhyming with Fresh Selects
After the release of Windbreaker, Portland based independent record label, Fresh Selects, interviewed Milc and he discussed with them the art of rhyming and being a child basketball prodigy. Milc talks about how he eats, sleeps, and breaths rap. Ultimately, he’s able to accomplish the same reaction to his bars as he gets when listening to some of his favorite rappers. Between the release of Windbreaker and this new album Neutral Milc Motel, it’s now impossible to deny Milc’s presence in the rap game.
But Who is Milc Mane?
Growing up in Northeast Portland, Ben “Milc” Johnson came of age when rap was really starting to break into the music conversation. The 90s are still heralded as the “Golden Era” of rap.
Having fucked up vision as a kid, he had to have multiple eye surgeries which led him to have these crazy glasses and an outsider’s mentality.
Eventually his unique circumstances would pay off. Honing in on his basketball dribbling skills led him to be chosen to play in the AND1 Mixtape Tour at the age of 12. You can catch Milc in the Netflix film, “Untold: The Rise and Fall of AND1” where Shane “the Dribble Machine” Woney brought him onto the court and dubbed Milc with the nickname “Computer Chip.”
While still in high school, Milc partnered with Devin “Brill” Boss to form Load B, an alcohol-fueled no-fucks-given type group that would use shock value to, ultimately, alienate themselves from the Portland hip-hop scene. However, that experience would set Milc down a path to be 100% Blanco today, spitting bar after bar of jaw-dropping lyrics. Some even say that a daily dose of Milc will lead to strong bones and better health overall. “I’ll die but my bars will survive on a Reddit thread.”
