Open Mike Eagle
Dark Comedy
Release Date: Jun 10, 2014
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: Mello Music Group
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Album Review: Dark Comedy by Open Mike Eagle
Great, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 4.0/5
Mello Music Group’s newest recruit Open Mike Eagle is no Rap rookie. Known for establishing himself as a fixture at Los Angeles’ esteemed underground rap workshop Project Blowed after a post-college migration from Chicago, Mike’s been making music with Hellfyre Club since the imprint’s inception in 2011. Though Mike’s fourth solo album Dark Comedy album is only 13 tracks and clocks in at less than 45 minutes, it requires some heavy unpacking.
Based on rating 8.0/10
Somewhere between Richard Pryor going platinum and the latest episode of Louie, the establishment of comedy as a filter between the outside world and an individual's churning-brain anxiety took a deep hold in the mainstream pop-culture consciousness. The more that once-uncommon voices are allowed to speak as themselves, the likelier it is that they'll slip their grievances and worries in under the cover of slyly built jokes. Open Mike Eagle's solo career pushed him from Project Blowed cog to a spotlight that gave him space to ruminate over his fights against orthodoxy, starting with hip-hop's (his first two album titles: Unapologetic Art Rap and Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes) and working his way outwards from there.
Based on rating 3/5
Open Mike Eagle is a smart dude, but he’s also a smart ass. Whilst this may be a double-edged sword, it’s also his biggest asset. Even when offering socio-political commentary, he’ll throw in a line boasting about how he’ll “smoke you in GoldenEye”. So to put it lightly, ‘Dark Comedy’ is bit of an odd one.
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