MIKE raps to be felt—his way of sizing up the world around him is both concealed and profound, as moving as it is indecipherable. On “nothin2say (Never Forget),” the single from his upcoming album, Weight of the World, he continues his furtive journey through grief. Here, he is in communion with those closest to him, living and lost; he gathers his small “tribe,” faces betrayal, reminisces about being with TJ back in the Bronx, and still hears his late mother singing to him. His verses remain impenetrable, but that doesn’t lessen their emotional power.

The song is more lively than his usual fare, breaking from solemnity with a shuffling flow, yet his bars are still substantial. He rides one rhyme scheme the entire way, as if wading deeper into the solitude and privacy of his own thoughts, communicating specifically to those that need the message. Skipping along a scatting vocal sample he produced himself as DJ Blackpower, his voice is as sonorous as he is reflective. Near the end, his utterances become increasingly difficult to make out; it feels like drifting through his subconscious mind. Even when it seems like there is nothing to be said, there is still something worth vocalizing.