AMSTERDAM HIP HOP ACADEMY

After years of honing his craft under the moniker of Shy Rock (with Gotcha!, Amo-Lab and solo), Maikal X truly became a household name as the lead mc/singer for the best selling Dutch Hiphop Reggae group: ‘Postmen’. Songs like ‘Cocktail’, ‘Crisis’ and ‘You Wait’ are considered classic hits.
Their debut album ‘Documents’ on Topnotch/V2 went platinum and as a result the group won several awards (TMF Award, Silver Harp, Heineken Crossover Award to name a few). After three Postmen albums, Maikal X decided to continue his career as a solo artist. His breakthrough single ‘The Best In You’ (RockNVibes) garnered him critical acclaim all over the globe, which resulted in ending up on the world’s biggest reggae compilation ‘Strictly the Best’ vol.40 (VP Records). While his album ‘Genesis’ being distributed by the world renown Reggae label VP Records. This album also spawned the hits ‘Bear With Me’ and ‘Here She Comes’. International Reggae icons such as Peetah Morgan (lead singer of the group ‘Morgan Heritage’), Luciano and Dean Fraser and platinum producer Don Corleon all contributed to this strong debut. Maikal X has a unique sound with a raspy yet warm vocal tone. Aside from his singing abilities, he is also a highly respected Hiphop artist and is considered one of the best MC’s in Holland, Belgium and the Dutch Caribbean.
He is also known as the mc of Europe’s biggest Dancehall and Reggae party called “Jamrock” along side ‘Dj Waxfiend’.

In 2007 Maikal hooked up with a Japanese producer by the name of ‘Kazumitsu Okiura’ thru a mutual friend. They clicked immediately on a musical level and whenever ‘Kazumitsu’ would travel to Europe, he would make a stop in The Netherlands just to record with Maikal. Being that they both didn’t like the idea of recording over the internet, it took them 5 years. In 2012 they released an independent album together called ‘Couch Brothers – Electric Gypsy 2.1’. A mixture of Hiphop, Funk, Bossanova and Reggae.

2012 was also the year ‘Postmen’ reunited since splitting up in 2004 and embarked on a ‘Reunion Tour’.
A re-release of their platinum album ‘Documents’ was issued, being launched with a new single ‘Wake ‘M Up’.
A ‘Party squad’ remix of this song was released on Diplo’s ‘Mad Decent’ label.

The last years Maikal has been working on developing his song writing and production skills. Working with young and seasoned artists like Kalibwoy and IamRoyston (Frass Nation), Smib collective and Uniq to name a few. Bouncing between Hiphop, Reggae and Dancehall and Pop. With great success writing for EDM dj’s like ‘Headhunters’, ‘Party squad’ and ‘Wiwek’. As well as handling production duties for Blues/Funk/Rock artist ‘E1 TEN’ project called ‘#Lovefunk’. While wearing all these hats he still considers himself a student of the game.

Being a musical multitasker Maikal X future looks bright!