Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE
East London born Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE is a renowned producer, composer, singer, dancer and DJ, whose history is firmly etched in the UK black music industry, taking the sounds of sub-culture to a global audience over the course of his 25 year long career.
As co-founder and co-artistic director of Boy Blue, founded in 2001 with Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy, Asante is credited with the conception and composition of Cycles (2024), Free Your Mind – commissioned by Factory International to open their new home Aviva Studios in 2023 alongside Kenrick Sandy, Danny Boyle, Es Devlin and Sabrina Mahfouz. REDD (2019), Outliers – Asante’s debut in the Barbican Concert Hall (2018), Olivier-nominated Blak Whyte Gray (2017), The Five & the Prophecy of Prana (2013), Touch (2011), Legacy (2011) and Olivier-winning Pied Piper: A Hip-Hop Dance Revolution (2006). With Sandy, Asante also created the family-friendly staple at Barbican Centre – A Night With Boy Blue (2025, 2022, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2013).
As a music producer, Asante boasts a diverse catalogue within his discography; creating music for films Street Dance 3D and All Stars, enjoying session work with a variety of new artists.
But it’s his work over the years with Kano, a Mercury Prize and Brit Award Nominee, winner of the MOBO Best Album Awards, that put Asante on the map way back in 2005; an early pioneer of the-then newly coined genre grime, a sound that would go on to shape a generation and knock down doors abroad, Asante’s influence can be heard across the capital and beyond. Trips to LA have seen him working with Kool Kojack (Ariana Grande/ Kesha) and Mike Free (Big Sean/ YG).
Recent television and theatre work includes composition for Jamie Lloyd’s productions of The Effect, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, Tree, a Kwame Kwei-Armah and Idris Elba creation for Manchester International Festival, composition for Criminal Record (Apple TV+) Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship (National Geographic documentary special), the BBC documentary The Three Lives of Michael X, and a collaboration with Brian Eno over two series of Netflix’s Top Boy. Asante also worked on the film Kneecap for which he won The BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) Craft Award for Best Original Music.
Outside of the studio, Asante mentors and delivers master classes in directing, choreography and music, is a Governor of London Contemporary Dance School and a member of the Barbican board. In 2018 Asante was awarded an Honorary Fellowship (HonFGS) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and received an MBE to Hip Hop Dance and Music in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
