Last year, Philadelphia emcee iCON the Mic King released Mike & The Fat Man LP with New England producer Chum. This year
The emcee spoke with HipHopDX just before the Christmas holiday about his motives for this dedication and generosity. “You see this whole time that I’ve been training – it’s been about three
months now – I’ve been dodging the question of why. I mention an intense
moment of wanting to give back that I experienced in Grand Central Station at which point a trashcan ad for a Crohn’s & Colitis
Foundation of America event caught my eye. People keep asking me, ‘Okay,
well why this cause?’ To which I just respond, ‘Why not?’ or I get
playfully defensive and say, ‘Damn! I can’t just do something good?’
And while it’s true that I did have that moment at Grand Central,
the reality of it is that most people don’t engage in these types of
things until they hit home in some way, shape, or form.
So the
obvious next question is, ‘Do I have Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative
Colitis?’ The answer is no, but someone very important to me in my
family does and one time that person asked me if I could do anything
for them to show how much I cared what would it be. I promised that
person I’d cure them. It’s a very childish thing to want to be able to
cure somebody out of love. It’s like when your mom is sick and you keep
hugging her hoping she feels better. Out of that love I’ve studied all
types of natural healing techniques and I’ve even gone as far as to
consider going back to school to become a gastroentologist,” explained iCON, who is reportedly working on a follow-up LP with Chum, as well as a group project for Ninja Tune Records.
He’s been active in the cause, saying, “From what I understand Crohn’s and Colitis aren’t as elusive as a lot
of other diseases in that they are expecting a cure in the next 20
years and since I did the CCFA walk in New York City this summer and then
announced I was running a lot of people that I know have hit me up to
let me know they or either a relative has one of the two diseases. For
example, a girl that walked with me in New York City, just days before we walked
her brother learned that he had UC. She’d signed up to be a part of my
team before her brother even decided he should go to the doctor.“
Admittedly careful about going public with this information, iCON said, “This isn’t really about iCON the Mic King. It’s about [his birth name] Michael King using what he has available to him to do something for someone he cares
about and at the same time helping to rid the world of a disease that
affects millions of people worldwide.“
Interested parties and supporters can reach iCON. He explained, “If people want to donate they can either goto my MySpace [click here] or my website: www.iconthemicking.com.” He also added that there is more information on YouTube, such as his vlogs about the cause. “ I never touch the money; it goes directly to CCFA. Also everything
anything that is bought from my online store…all the money (gross not
profit) goes to CCFA as well. The deadline is January 17th.”
RUN 4YL: The Running Blog! from Michael King on Vimeo.
