Baltimore hip-hop and The Return of Rap
Mania Music Group released Mayfield’s collaboration with E Major, "UnHeard", in 2009, followed by the singles "Wreck" (2010) and "The Island" (2011). His Follow MY Flow project was released in 2011; the label subsequently published three volumes of Rhymes By Kane between 2012 and 2014.
During the early 2010s, Mayfield developed a presence in Baltimore's independent rap scene. The Baltimore Sun covered his recordings, including the song "Hydrants" in 2012, and interviewed him about new music and a tribute to producer J Dilla.
In February 2012, The Baltimore Sun reported on Mayfield's recording activity with Mania Music Group and his appearance on a J Dilla tribute bill at the Ottobar.
The Baltimore Sun also featured Mayfield in its November 2012 cover package on five emerging Baltimore rappers, Rappers on the Rise, written by Wesley Case. The article profiled his nine-track release Rhymes by Kane: Thievery Corporation Edition, in which he rapped over instrumental music by the Washington, D.C., electronic duo Thievery Corporation. According to the report, members of the duo had listened to the project and responded favorably. Mayfield described his reluctance to treat media attention as the measure of his work and said he continued writing songs without waiting for a scheduled release.
The mixtape was released as a free nine-track digital download by Mania Music Group on July 24, 2012. The following day, music critic Brandon Soderberg selected it as SPIN magazine’s Rap Release of the Week. His review examined Mayfield’s humor and wordplay alongside the social and political themes of songs including "The Patriot", "Vampires" and "Ghetto Almenac", and compared the release favorably with higher-profile contemporary rap projects.
The newspaper selected his song "Hydrants" for a five-song guide to the featured rappers, and placed "New Jack City" at number 16 in its year-end list of 20 Baltimore songs. His previous work in finance also became material for his music. The video for his 2013 single "White Collar" drew on the contrast between his former occupation and his life as a rapper, a theme discussed by the arts publication Quiet Lunch. As his recording career continued, he appeared at Mobtown Studios and created a musical travelogue connected to the A3C hip-hop festival, both covered by The Baltimore Sun.
A March 2015 Baltimore City Paper feature, Return on Investment, examined the long development of his debut album. The article traced his move from Long Island to Baltimore in 2005, his experience selling stocks and mortgages, and his involvement with Mania Music Group, which it said had launched in 2007. Mayfield described having to adapt from being one of several rappers on the label to working as a solo artist, and discussed how performing and an online comedy series, Slick Rick or Rhyme, helped him build an audience. The feature described The Return of Rap as a deeply personal project: the song "Beaches" reflected on his upbringing, while "Black Powder" explored race and social identity. The article described the record as a long-delayed project shaped by revisions and experimentation.
In July 2015, Baltimore City Paper included the album among its 50 recommended local releases from the first half of the year, describing Mayfield as both technically skilled and humorous. That September, Mayfield held a farewell Baltimore show at Metro Gallery before relocating to Florida. The newspaper reported on the planned performance and subsequently published photographs of the event. He later said that he had become disillusioned with the demands of the conventional music business and stepped away from regular performances.
Digital art and later music
Mayfield began making blockchain-based digital art around 2021. In interviews, he has credited musician Rare Scrilla with introducing him to the field. His work has included digital collages issued through the Counterparty-based Fake Rares project, sometimes combining AI-generated images with manual editing in Microsoft Paint.
He released DUST in 2023, working with producer Street Scott and RAD on music incorporating sounds derived from Bitcoin data. He also released a companion project, ELECTRUM. In 2024, he developed Ides of March, a music project accompanied by an interactive sampling application called Samplerr.
In a June 2024 interview with Subterranean, Mayfield discussed the inspiration for his song "The Red Vineyard", named after Vincent van Gogh's painting of the same name. He associated the painting with uncertainty about artistic recognition during one's lifetime and the importance of perseverance. The song addresses debt, monetary policy, and personal freedom, and its accompanying video incorporated AI-generated imagery that Mayfield manually edited and assembled using Microsoft Paint. The project was connected to his Ethereum-based A Year & A Day collection and a related Counterparty artwork, LESXX.
