Now You Know: Meidai

“My new album will make you laugh, cry, want to get up and party, and also make you think,” says Michael May, aka Meidai, a hip-hop MC who launched his label Off Da Wall MusiQ in January 2006. “My hip-hop alias Meidai, pronounced mayday, means a very strong individual in Greek,” he says. “It’s also a three-headed horse ram dragon.”

His full-length Death Before Dishonor was released in 2011, but he says it took a couple of years for his live act to catch fire.

“My best show was 2013. I had the flu, but I was also the headliner, and I still went onstage and rocked out. My worst show was at Across the Street at Mueller College. The soundman was drunk, there was about 20 people there, and it was an all-around bad vibe.”

Meidai’s album Legendary drops June 3, with a release party at Diamond Jim’s in Chula Vista.

“I’ll be handing out copies and giving away free hats and T-shirts and playing and performing a few tracks from the CD,” he says. “If your voice isn’t gone by the end of the night, then I haven’t done my job as an artist.”

Recorded at Jay Watt Production Studios and Off Da Wall Studios and mixed by Chelly Jane, the album includes guest spots from L.E., Nina Beretta, Young Tk, Nahledge, and Katja Glieson.

“It’s not confined to just one style,” says Meidai. “It’s hip-hop, R&B, soul music, rock, country, and very much orchestral. I touch on topics such as the Illuminati, the government, and my life experiences, so this album to me is different from what other hip-hop artists are doing. I’m putting everything on the line with this release...everything from the production to the lyrics.

“A lot of people will be able to relate to me.”