mike.

Vaulting from the baseball diamond to the world of hip-hop, mike. (formerly known as Mike Stud) has charted an unorthodox path to rap stardom. ∙ A baseball star during high school and college, he sustained a serious arm injury and began making music to pass the time while recovering from surgery. ∙ The 2010 video for “College Humor”—a song he’d initially made as a joke—quickly went viral, as did the 2011 follow-up, “In This Life,” a collaboration with fellow athlete-turned-rapper Loggy. ∙ In 2013, his debut LP, Relief, reached No. 5 on the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart, while the following year’s Closer went all the way to No. 1. ∙ He enlisted All-Star pitcher Marcus Stroman—his close friend and former college teammate—to feature on a remix of “These Days,” the Platinum-certified title track of his 2016 album. ∙ He starred in his own reality TV show, This Is Mike Stud, which aired in 2016. ∙ Following the release of 2018’s 4THEHOMIES, he retired the name Mike Stud and adopted a new moniker, mike. ∙ mike. followed up 4THEHOMIES with 2019’s Uhyuready? and 2021 The Highs., which reached No. 56 on the Billboard 200.