Don't let the simple name fool you. Surround Sound Records' latest superstar Mike G, is a hot rapper with more than ten years experience of ripping shows, dropping cold-as-ice lyrics and laying it down for "SSR". "Mike G is a name I got when I was young and thugging, i use to be on some intelligent gangster shit" explains 29-year-old Michael Gordon. 

Mike G hails from the infamous Louisville Kentucky region and was reared in the South Side area. Like most other housing projects and low income nieghborhoods, "the South Side" has a serious reputation for being rowdy and wild. It's a place where few children survive unscathed by the horrendous poverty that grips many of the residents there. But not Mike G. Like the elders of old, he kept his eyes on the prize - his dream of being a rap star. "I had my struggles," says a solemn Mike G when asked about life in the "wild" South Side. "My pops went AWOL on me when I was 9, so I had my struggles and I had peer pressure, but I didn't let things get to me. I always stayed focused on what I was trying to do."

Rapping since the age of 14, Mike G formed a group called TWIM,

THE WORLD IS MINE ( a name that he has tattooed on his arm in honor of his old crew, many of whom are either dead or locked up. "TWIM" was like a coalition for hungry rappers." Through his rap activity, Mike G became instrumental in helping shape Louisville's hip hop scene. However, by the Late-90's, Mike G's career took a turn for the worst.

Resisting the lure of fast money and cars, he took on a series of odd jobs in between writing and doing shows whenever he could. His luck changed when he met Shawn "The FAT MAN" Bullitt, owner of Get Rich Entertainment. On the way to work, he auditioned for him on the spot. Although he liked what he'd heard, he didn't have a spot on their roster for new artists. He gave him a card and told him to check with he later. Mike G showed up the next day, and the day after, and the day after, and the day after that. In fact, he started hanging around the studio so much that the label finally gave him a shot and released Mike G's debut album titled ANother DImension. Instantly, Anotther Dimension became an underground smash, selling close to 12,000 copies in the Southern region alone. It also helped to set the stage for Mike G's new group, The Brittle Boyz, whose debut LP Pay us or Die sold nearly 40,000 copies and landed in the #75 spot on the independent Billboard charts.

Now, Mike G returns with his sophomore solo CD titled "Digital Money", which will definitely prove to be Surround Sound Records hottest release yet. Just listen to the sizzling lead single "you no the name," with its rapid-fire rhythm, spacey keyboard and Mike G's endless aggression on the mic. Everyone is sure to get caught up in the high energy of "Shake it right in front of me" with it's bouncing organ chords and tight rhythms built around a 70's rim shot, or the spine-chilling tracks "Greed" and "I do numbers." On "Dont be scared," you can feel the hunger in Mike G's voice and the heat coming from producer D Boi's tracks.

Why Digital Money? Let Mike G explain. "Beacause everythings digital now days, stock trades, buying, selling, gambling, dating, work, school, music, everything, you can even go grocery shopping online now!." Besides, given the amount of bubbling bass lines, steamy rhythms and scorching lyrical content that this CD packs, the album couldn't be called anything else.