Mission Man

I'm a non explicit hip-hop musician who plays the drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, raps, sings, and I produce everything myself. I start rapping when I was 13, in 1992. In 1998, I picked up the bass, guitar, and production, and in 1999 I taught myself the drums. I choose to be non-explicit because the messages in my music tend to be more positive, and more thoughtful than most hip-hop I hear.

Mission Man was born Gary Milholland in 1979. He began rapping in 1992. During the walk to play basketball at the University of Central Florida, Gary's friend B.J. told him to "kick a rap." B.J. had been rapping for a couple of years himself already. "I can't rap man," Gary replied. "Man just kick a rap," B.J. insisted. "O.K." Gary responded, "Turn on the stereo, kick up the bass, as I dunk in your face... 4 of a kind, don't mess with my mind, 'cause I got you beat every time." Gary memorized that 30 second rap, and turned it into "Inventor," which is currently the last track on "Intro To My Mind." Gary and B.J. formed a rap group called the Multi-Culturals. Gary was Caucasian, B.J. was African-American, and the third member of the group was Puerto Rican. The third member didn't last long, but Gary and B.J. tried for almost two years to find a record deal. They recorded a demo in Gary's home, and gave it to a talent agent. She thought rap was on it's way out at the time, and that was the first speed bump of many that Gary would hit on his musical road. In 1994, Gary's mom developed cancer, and his family moved back to Ohio. The Multi-Culturals broke up as B.J. stayed in Orlando. In the fall of 1994, Gary's mom passed away, and he used rap to help him through the most difficult period in his life. He used his lyrics to expressive himself, and rapped to entertain himself as well, as he could rarely afford other forms of entertainment. In 1996, Gary's brother offered to pay for the pressing of his first album, "Intro To My Mind," and Gary gladly accepted. After writing the lyrics in three and a half weeks, he came up with the name Mission Man, as he was on a mission to change the way people viewed hip-hop. Gary wanted the world to know that rap was necessarily gangsta, and had unlimited potential for self-expression. Mission Man practiced "Intro To My Mind" for hours every day, because he knew he only had a few hours to record his entire album, and when he went to the studio, he recorded all 13 tracks in just thee and a half hours. Only three songs took multiple takes to record. Everything else was recorded on the first attempt. "After producing my own music, and producing for others, I am just now realizing how amazing that is." His producer for the first album, Richard Easterling, was truly amazed. No one had ever come into his studio being that familiar with his or her songs before. Subsequent albums have taken longer to record, as Mission Man has grown as a musician, and a person. When Mission Man started rapping, he only knew how to play the keyboard. At the age of 19, in 1998, he picked up the bass and the guitar, and in 1999, he taught himself the drums. In 1998, he also began to teach himself how to produce. He recorded "Delve Deeper" completely using a program with no multi-tracking capabilities, and with a basic soundcard. The results were such that "Delve Deeper" became a two CD learning process. That learning process continued with "Transitions," as he picked up a multi-tracking program to help record drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, and vocals. Gary still wasn't very strong at producing, though, and "Transitions" became just another learning process. In 2000, Mission Man released "Out Of The Shadows," the official follow up to "Intro To My Mind." The CD was very much a musical experiment, which taught Gary a lot about music, but wasn't received as well as "Intro To My Mind," and in retrospect, is not as strong an album, because of the lack of production experience, and the timing issues involved with multi-tracking a single artist. Over the next several years, Gary worked full time and went to college full time at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He continued to write and record music whenever he could. Upon graduating in 2002, Gary did not find a job, as was the case for a large portion of his classmates, all across the country. So, he decided to continue to deliver pizzas, and make music. This unexpected reality has affected Gary's music. Because of this, you will find lyrics that you can relate to, instead of really cool beats with no meaning in the words. His words and music combined to become "A Different Kid," a title given to Gary by a co-worker. When Gary's coworker heard the instrumental for "Open Eyes" he told Gary he was "a different kid." It's probably the most appropriate description anyone has ever given to Mission Man. Mission Man is now concentrating on performing, playing in cities ranging from Cincinnati, Ohio to Jacksonville, FL.

I perform live in cities ranging from Jacksonville, Florida to Cincinnati, Ohio to Philadelphia, and I'm hoping to start heading out west this year, 2004. I love performing live, when the crowd is into it. I have some special moments. The first one that comes to mind is my first performance at Jack Rabbit's in Jacksonville, Florida. I was performing between a couple of hard rock bands to a group of about 100 kids who had never even heard of me. Halfway through the song "Memories" the kids started singing along with the chorus. At another point, 20 or so of them starting chanting "Mission Man! Mission Man!" I thought I was going to mess up the lyrics at that point, but I didn't. There are two others that stick out in my mind. One because it happened two days ago. I did my first every "hip-hop cooperative," which is where I freestyle with another emcee. HMP of the Caged WONZ is the emcee in this case. Instead of battling, though, we just freestyle and having a good time. It was a ton of fun. Finally, at Casa Cantina in Athens Ohio in March, I came off stage during my set to greet the people in the crowd and one woman hugged me because of my performance of "Respect Our Women." I made a real connection, and that's what makes music special.

Tupac, Talking Heads, U2, Billy Joel, Prince, Michael Jackson, Depeche Mode, the Beastie Boys, Duran Duran, The Pet Shop Boys, the Roots, NWA, David Bowie, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Rakim, Cyndi Lauper, Mister Mister, Linkin Park, Men At Work, Simple Minds, Tears For Fears, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Bob Seger, Outkast (all the way back to Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, came out when I was still very much in the early formative years of my rap development), Toto, Whitesnake, White Zombie, Ice-T, Richard Marx, Barenaked Ladies, the Bloodhoung Gang, Naked Eyes, Paul Simon, Culture Club, EMF, REM, Tool, the Clash, the Cure, Madness, Heart, Tpau, Sting, the Eurythmics, Blondie, New Order, Wang Chung, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Harold Faltermeyer (Axel F), Everlast, They Might Be Giants, Gordon Lightfoot, Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, 311, Sublime, Wu-Tang Clan, Radiohead, Weird Al, Scarface, Five Stair Steps, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Edwin McCain, Taco, Tone Loc, Young MC, Aerosmith, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Mike and the Mechanics, and I've probably left off more than I've listed.

My older beats all come from a Yamaha PSR-510. I also have a short scale fender bass, and an Elvis replica guitar. My drumset is a Yamaha DTXPress.

If you've read this much, thank you. I'm really hoping to establish a strong national identity in the next year, and after that just live on the road for a while. I love music and I love performing. More CDs will be coming in the next year, including a freestyle album, and some collaborations.