new music: art rapper open mike eagle gets brutally honest on ‘a special episode of’ #soundcheck

In a world where most artists are interested more in being hype than good, where image is seen as almost more important than content, Open Mike Eagle stands out for making his name on his uncoolness and awkwardness. Playing more like a stand-up comedian who highlights his short-comings and failures, it’s no wonder that his last record was titled Dark Comedy. Yet that’s what makes him so compelling, where so many artists aspire to godhood, Open Mike Eagle aspires to brutal uncompromising honesty. And that honesty is realer than any god. On his new EP, Open Mike Eagle continues the failing public access TV show in his head with A Special Episode Of.

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor 

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The EP picks up where Dark Comedy left off with ‘Dark Comedy Late Show’, lyrically the strongest track on the EP. Open Mike Eagle wastes no time in establishing himself as the class clown, hopelessly uncool but cracking wise at his own expense, by name checking The Spin Doctors ten lines in. But that doesn’t mean this is all self-depreciating novelty rap; he gets deep. “You can watch us on the newsfeeds fucking y’alls mornings up / Until America admits that it likes dogs more than us / And I can see the Superbowls of the future / The Ferguson Blacks versus Missouri State Troopers,” before bringing it back to the personal: “I graduated college / I purchased all the extra books / I’m supposed to be living in a house with a breakfast nook / Joke’s on me though.”

Production from Exile and Gold Panda gives Open Mike Eagle’s tracks a future aesthetic. Meanwhile his raps leap between nostalgia for a 90’s childhood (the Legend of Zelda gets multiple shout outs, as well it should) and modern social criticism. That’s sort of the genius of Open Mike Eagle, that he can disarm you with his “I’m just some dude who really ought to have his shit together by now,” leaving you open for his cutting social insights. “Raps For When It’s Just You & The Abyss” balances the struggles of being a 34 year old rapper who’s perpetually on the cusp of breaking through “was pretty geeked about my LA Weekly feature / I showed it to my dad, my barber, and my piano teacher.” The EP closes out with ‘Ziggy Starfish (Anxiety Raps)’ which showcases Open Mike Eagle’s technical skills as a rapper. Over a rapid fire Gold Panda 808 beat, on what may be the most pop track he’s ever released, Open Mike Eagle gets real about social anxiety, “I ain’t never been to this planet / Make eye contact and I’m smiling.” That level of brutal personal honesty is rare these days. That he can take his own failings and show how they’re part of wider social problems is rarer. If great art is using the personal to manifest the universal, then this EP is truly great.

* https://www.facebook.com/mikeeagleraps