It wasn’t until Mike Check participated in an , in Manhattan last year, that he actually thought about taking his craft to the next level.
“Since hip-hop unplugged I have started zoning in on this next project,” the Greenport native explained. “The new project is called ‘Stars, Dreams and Elbow Grease’ and it's just how it sounds... I’m shooting for the stars, chasing my dreams and working 110 percent.”
To date, everything that Mike Check has done has been funded with his own money. He humbly notes that after he works his ‘day job,’ he spends all of his free time on his passion for making music.
This dedication prompted his friends and colleagues to do something incredible. They got together and produced a short video explaining what Mike has been up to and uploaded it to IndieGoGo, a website that allows users to create a funding campaign to raise money quickly and securely. In this case, to help Mike Check raise enough money to complete his latest project and get him on the road to stardom.
Mike didn’t know about the campaign until just before it was launched and when he heard about it, he immediately pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds to the Cheti School in Tanzania.
“I decided to donate ten percent to foundation that I am involved in called the Cheti Sponsorship Program,” Mike said, which he became interested in after some of his friends began volunteering at the school. “It’s a really great cause.”
To date, Mike says he has raised enough money to cover the cost of production of the new album, around $3,500, but the target goal is $7,000. The rest of the money raised will go toward promotion.
Mike explained that getting radio play and getting coverage from some of the online hip-hop blogs, both of which are necessary for success, cost money.
Then, there are the performances.
“As soon on this thing drops were gonna try and perform anywhere and everywhere,” he says. “My goal is to keep building new connections and building on the network we’ve created in the past year.”
