Hanging In There Packs Six Years of Mike Mitch and Padre Tóxico Into Five Songs and a Skit
Harlem MC Mike Mitch and Polish Beatmaker Padre Tóxico Keep Boom Bap Warm and Short
The beat on Hell Of A Night is hard boom bap from Padre Tóxico, a beatmaker from Poland. The bars belong to Mike Mitch, an MC born and raised in Harlem. That single came out on 16 October 2026, and Green Glow followed a week later. Then the full EP, Hanging In There, arrived on 30 October.
Padre Tóxico and Mike Mitch are in the playlist below with the title track of Hanging In There, and the Padre Tóxico profile collects the producer’s coverage. The EP reached this desk via PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news sites. Hit play on the drums, then read on.
Hell Of A Night Is the Hook That Pulls Listeners Into the EP
It is the loudest way into the record. The drums hit hard, and the swagger sits right on top of them, the way golden-era boom bap sounded when it was new. Padre Tóxico composed and produced the track, while Mike Mitch wrote the words and mixed it.
That sound is home ground for the producer. His beats start from soul samples, a layer of dust on the surface and drums with real weight, and his roots run as deep in jazz rap as in classic boom bap. He has worked that way since Primero, his first single, in December 2019, and he has done it without a major label. His catalogue has since passed 7 million streams on Spotify.
The MCs who have rhymed over those beats tell the rest of the story. Blu is on Feel Good from 2024, and Reks joined Mike Mitch on Focus the same year. Declaime followed with Blessed by Design in 2025, and Ras Kass is on Both OGs from February 2026. Awon has been the most regular guest of all, from Gumbo in 2021 onwards.
The template is an old one. Gang Starr paired DJ Premier, a producer born in Houston, with Guru, a rapper from Boston, under one name. Their fifth album, Moment of Truth, came out in March 1998. Hanging In There is billed the same way, Mike Mitch & Padre Tóxico, with the beatmaker’s name on the cover beside the MC’s.
Mike Mitch Writes Hanging In There Around Stress, Money, Setbacks and Self-Belief
The writing runs on pressure. Across the five songs, Mike Mitch works through stress, money, relationships, ambition and self-belief, and the running order turns those subjects into an arc.
The title track starts in a vulnerable place. Next, Green Glow puts money worries beside a sense of purpose. Sour Lemonade Stand (I Don’t Mind) makes a small business out of bad luck. Hell Of A Night is the swagger, and Unstoppable (Once Again) closes on resilience and on betting on yourself.
None of these subjects is new for the pair. Their singles since Left With Fame in November 2020 carry titles like Business, Million Dollar Thoughts, Routine and Too Blessed To Stress. In total, Apple Music lists close to 20 releases with both names on them. So Hanging In There is less a change of direction than the long version of a six-year conversation.
The feel holds the five songs together. The beats stay warm and soulful, with a jazz lean. Meanwhile, the mood moves between looking inward, playful moments and plain confidence.
Five Songs, a Skit and Two Beat Edits Give Hanging In There Its Shape in Under 17 Minutes
Its running order is tight. First, the title track opens at two minutes and 12 seconds, and Green Glow follows. Then an eight-second skit, We only got limes…, walks straight into Sour Lemonade Stand (I Don’t Mind). After that, Hell Of A Night and Unstoppable (Once Again) close out the songs. No track runs longer than two minutes and 44 seconds.
That skit is the smartest piece of sequencing on the record. Lemonade usually starts with lemons. Here there are only limes, and the stand opens anyway, which is the EP’s whole argument in eight seconds.
The last two tracks hand the record back to the producer. The beat edits of Hanging In There and Hell Of A Night give Padre Tóxico’s side of the record its own space. They suit DJs, and anyone who wants to hear the production on its own. Even with them, the whole release comes in under 17 minutes.
The Rollout, the Label and a Direct Line Back to Blu & Exile
The rollout was just as tidy. One single landed on 16 October, another on 23 October and the EP on 30 October. The EP came out through MindSupplements Records and Limitless Imprint Entertainment, and HHHeadz posted it on release day.
There is a direct line to Blu & Exile, too, since Blu is one of Padre Tóxico’s guests. Exile produced every song on Below the Heavens, Blu’s debut album from July 2007. In 2015, HipHopDX listed it among the 30 best underground rap albums since 2000. The 2014 reissue on Fat Beats even added two unreleased instrumentals. Hanging In There offers the same courtesy with its two beat edits.
So Hanging In There is for listeners who want boom bap with heavy drums and short songs. It also suits anyone who follows producers as closely as rappers.
RapStar.News’s curator team: “Play the Hell Of A Night beat edit straight after the full version. With the verses gone, you can hear how much of the swagger is already in Padre Tóxico’s drums. It also explains why MCs from Blu to Ras Kass have rapped over his beats.”
Stream Hanging In There in the player at the top of this article or on Apple Music. You can also hear the single Hell Of A Night on Spotify. Follow Padre Tóxico on Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram, or find every link on his links page. Follow Mike Mitch on Spotify too.
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