Stereo Mike

Stereo Mike is the stage name of Michail Exarchos, a Greek hip hop artist and producer, born on 4 July 1978 in Piraeus. He is on Muzika-Balkan because of his mother: his Wikipedia biography says he was born to a Greek father and a Croatian mother from Rijeka.

The sources do not say where he lives today. He spent his student and early working years in Britain, and in 2012 his own studio, XRS Audio, was based in Harrow-on-the-Hill in London. At eighteen he went there to study, and in four years at Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of Westminster he earned a bachelor's degree in music technology and a master's in sound production. At the same time he worked as a sound producer at Vault Recording Studios in Hackney, with British hip hop artists such as Klashnekoff, Skinnyman and Taskforce. Producing for AMG Records led to his first contract as Stereo Mike, with the label's hip hop imprint Mo' Money Recording$, and he also lectured in music production at Westminster.

His debut album, Satirical Nomads, came out in Greece in 2004 under licence to Universal Music Greece. Its singles were "O Allos Babis", an anthem against racism, and "I Polis". For the second album he moved to Minos EMI: XLI3H (2007), its title the Greek word for "evolution" written in leet, brought "Fevgo" with Haris Alexiou, "Des Kathara" with Andriana Babali, "Anagnorisi" and "Alli Mia Nihta" with Shaya, and "Peraia Mou" followed in 2009.

In 2008 he became the first winner of the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Greek Act, a category created that year when MTV launched in Greece, and he was also nominated for Europe's Favourite Act. He was nominated several times at the Mad Video Music Awards and recorded "S'opoion Aresei (Dansonra)" with Tamta and "Piase Me" with Eleni Tsaligopoulou.

In 2011 Stereo Mike represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany together with singer Loucas Yiorkas. Their song "Watch My Dance" finished seventh with 120 points. His third album, Aneli3h, came out the same year, and the video for its song "Opou Me Pai I Mousiki" was shot in London, among his favourite places and in the Brixton streets where he took his first steps in the music business.

The playlist is his own channel's collection of videos, from "O Allos Babis" and "I Polis" to "Peraia Mou" and "Akoma Edo".