In this third installment of Painting the Corner, we briefly move away from visual arts into the world of music. Michael Hook is known around Guardians Twitter as being THE meme king, but to many others
he’s known as Cleveland rapper D0uble 0.
Michael was raised in a music centric family and has music woven throughout his entire life. In 2021 Michael found himself at another concert, in the crowd, head bobbing along to the music. It was in that moment that he realized, performing music on stage might be something he’d be good at. That thought was enough to kick start it all.
After a couple of years of writing music, honing his craft and musical identity, D0uble 0 released his first song in July of 2023.
Cleveland baseball has always been Michael’s favorite, and baseball is the sport he knows best. It didn’t take long for Michael to turn to the sport and the Guardians for influence, using analogies and imagery from our beloved past time to help convey his message and feelings in songs.
In the song Bench Minutes, off the 2024 album “PATIENT ZERO”, the song title is a sports reference of its own, but baseball makes its appearance.
“I know that I’m the one, and my royalty has just begun, I’ll keep on hitting homers like I’m Cincinnati Adam Dunn.”
“They doubt the 2-time MVP yeah b— I’m 5th year Michael Trout”
In an upcoming project releasing in February, he makes reference to an NL West team in a clever bit of word play.
“I’m vintage with muscle like an el Camino, got a diamond on my back like Gabe Moreno”
Michael’s lyrics are littered with baseball references, making it that much more enjoyable to listen to. Every time he has a new release it becomes a little scavenger hunt to try and find the references in the lyrics.
Off of the above mentioned album is my favorite song by D0uble 0; Crash Out. Overall its a great song to blast when you want to crash out, but there’s a little lick about Cleveland’s favorite third baseman that made me smile when I first heard the song.
“If you wanna play that game you’ll find yourself in trouble, cause I’m like José Ramírez stretching singles into doubles”
It isn’t just the lyrical nods that made me want to highlight baseball’s influence on Michael. Performing music in front of a crowd of strangers, solo, is a courageous feat. I akin it to how athletes must feel when they come up to the plate in big situations. Having to drown out the crowd, push down the nerves, but still allow yourself to feel the moment is something that takes an innate talent and confidence. To perform your own music, your own lyrics, is to bare parts of your soul to complete (and very opinionated) strangers. When someone like Michael is able to manifest their courage and weaknesses and strengths into an art form like music, it is no wonder that a part of his soul takes the form of José Ramírez coming up clutch.
