Omaha’s Smoke Break is a hip-hop duo that has become much more. They have been releasing music for 13 years, and also have a podcast, appear in movies, write books and have appeared at comic-cons and card shows.
The duo, who go by Mike and Morgan, recently pulled off one of their biggest achievements by opening a sold out show for Insane Clown Posse at The Admiral.
The duo’s lyrics and projects are shocking and obscene, but the culture around their collective work is one of acceptance, community, promoting mental health and allowing people to have a good time and forget about the world for 15 minutes.
Smoke Break has several projects and music coming out, including two back-to-back song drops. The first will be on Oct. 2 with a song called “Smoke Break?” and on Oct. 3 they will release “Game Changers.” They will perform at Reverb Lounge on Nov. 12.
Mike and Morgan talked about their come up, their process for putting together projects, and opening up for ICP.
Smoke Break started in 2008 and the duo has put out four albums and are working on their fifth. Morgan explained how he and Mike hooked up.
“It was 2008 or 2009. We were both in two different groups. Mike was in the Beatnicks, and I was in this group called Children of Osiris, and we were performing at the Hideout,” Morgan said. “I think I was hammered, and I was on the side of the stage while Mike was performing with the Beatnicks, I was just yelling. Rick James, not that Rick James, but the Rick James of The Beatnicks, for some reason, he liked the things I was yelling on the side of the stage, and so he asked me to join the Beatnicks like a hypeman of some sorts, then like two weeks later they had a tour, and basically everybody in the group besides Mike and I backed out of the tour. And so Mike and I went on the tour, and I wasn’t on any of the songs or anything like that. So it was just weird. But Mike and I built this friendship on this tour and became really good friends and then we just started making songs for us that we could perform with both of us on it, that made sense. And then the Beatnicks fell apart and Smoke Break became a thing.”
“Because our set was so weird, we became Smoke Break because people would take their smoke break when we perform,” Mike added. “It had nothing to do with pot or any of that.”
The duo has expanded beyond music, now working on film projects, as well.
“We’re shooting a movie right now, then we’re also shooting a documentary as well,” Morgan said. “Mike and I were both in Orgy of the Dead 2. Mike was the emperor, and he killed it where I was just beefcake number two flexing. I am the last person who should probably have been a beefcake, but they loved it.”
Morgan added that Smoke Break is about more than just music, and has a wider scope.
“I don’t think it’s ever been about music with us,” he explained. “It’s almost like this bohemian group of people and we’re just making art. And so Smoke Break actually kind of became like a bigger entity, almost based on the fact that we’re writing books, making movies, running podcasts. We’re traveling across the country doing it, like we have people doing it, going to comic cons and stuff like that. It’s just really cool that we’ve somehow built this really weird family of artists who just happen to make music.”
When asked about the process of choosing songs or projects Mike explained, “It’s pretty much at this point if it’s going to be good live, are people going to be into the call and response and the audience participation, are we going to be able to make a video out of it.”
The two are working with Aaron Gum on visuals and Omaha hop-hop veteran Komatose on music.
Another person who has helped them is area promoter Justin Strawstone who called Smoke Break up to see if they wanted to open for Insane Clown Posse.
“The Admiral to me, being able to be on that stage, I wouldn’t care if we opened up for Tiffany, and she only did ‘I Think We’re Along Now’ over and over again, to be on that stage is just legendary,” Mogan said. “We’ve performed at sold out shows at every major venue in Omaha besides the arenas. So, like, if anybody was there, everybody saw me cry on stage, because it was just an amazing moment, I’ll never get to perform at the Ranch Bowl, and so, like that sucks. But I have Sokol Underground and Sokol Hall (The Admiral) under my belt.”
Smoke Break has been known to incorporate some unusual samples into the music.
“The most recent one we did ‘Sorry Doc,’ that was dope,” Mike said. “It’s actually a Suzanne Vega sample. We have a lot of indie samples and stuff, and all music that people don’t really notice. I don’t think we strike people as Suzanne Vega fans off the jump but through Sam (Komatose), we’ve been able to really get some fun, like Elliot Smith stuff in there.”
Morgan talked with Mike about the sample in “Game Changer” which is “Tears of a Clown” from Smokey Robinson.
“When you sent me that, it was different,” Morgan said. “I wasn’t ready for it, because we have, we’ve grown, because we’ve always made music we wanted to make, you know, and I think we’ve been so limited about the songs we can make, then finally we’re like, fuck it, let’s sample these songs, and let’s have fun. And so now we’re making music that is just for fun.”
“It’s not like we make any money anyway, if we’re going to get a cease and desist, that’s fine,” Mike added. “We just like to make stuff that’s unexpected.”
Mike also explained the culture around Smoke Break.
“I think it is a real family atmosphere where we’re really with a bunch of people that are generally trying to build each other up, and it’s taken a long time to get that because throughout the history of doing it, people don’t share the same vision all the time,” he said. “There have been difficulties and unfortunate circumstances that have hindered our growth. Ultimately, we got here, and I mean, it’s taken 13 years. So I think the big thing is, you just got to keep going”
Morgan sums things up by saying the duo aims to give fans a break from the stresses of society.
“Have a good time with your friends and family,” he said. “Let’s party for 15 minutes. That’s all we’ve ever wanted to do. And that’s basically what we started out doing.”