{"id":9456,"date":"2014-09-16T12:41:39","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T12:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=9456"},"modified":"2014-09-16T12:41:39","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T12:41:39","slug":"open-mike-eagle-dark-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/09\/16\/open-mike-eagle-dark-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Mike Eagle &#8211; Dark Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/2014\/09\/16\/open-mike-eagle-dark-comedy\/homepage_large-c1eccc0f\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9457\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9457\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/homepage_large.c1eccc0f-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"homepage_large.c1eccc0f\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong>If Open Mike Eagle\u2019s self-coined \u201cart rap\u201d designation means anything, it\u2019s that the same reflexive musing and deprecatory tone which often typifies stand-up comedy can also apply to hip hop music.<!--more--> <i>Dark Comedy <\/i>is the 33-year-old\u2019s fourth full-length album and first in a three-record deal with Mello Music Group that sees him continue a streak of successful releases dating back to 2010\u2019s <i>Unapologetic Art Rap<\/i>. Mike is a central member of LA\u2019s strong independent rap scene (think Busdriver and Nocando) and, like his contemporaries, blends conventional hip hop elements with topical subject matter and idiosyncratic delivery. Opener \u201cDark Comedy Morning Show\u201d is a mission statement and manifesto all in one. Lamentations about the modern condition, internet \u201cprivacy\u201d and the digital age rarely hit home so effectively: \u201cCause Google knows what\u2019s in my cabinet\/And Facebook logs all of my favourite sandwiches\/And what they need the damn data for\/To analyze the shit they\u2019d need a whole \u2018nother labour force.\u201d Mike\u2019s rapping purposefully avoids fever pitch, but his deliberate tonal fluctuations and discreet melodies invite listeners to pay careful attention to what\u2019s being said. The effect couples nicely with high production value from eleven different beat makers, and the heavy bass lines and swelling electronic effects provide a balance to more traditional sampling and cutting. Despite features from popular comedian Hannibal Buress (who supplies a hilarious verse on \u201cDoug Stamper (Advice Raps)\u201d) and Kool A.D. (formerly of Das Racist), <i>Dark Comedy <\/i>sounds and feels like a bold individual statement. It\u2019s cleverly written, intelligently relevant and also one of the best hip hop albums of 2014. (Mello Music Group, <a href=\"http:\/\/mikeeagle.net\" target=\"_blank\">mikeeagle.net<\/a>)<strong> <b>Harrison Samphir<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Open Mike Eagle\u2019s self-coined \u201cart rap\u201d designation means anything, it\u2019s that the same reflexive musing and deprecatory tone which often typifies stand-up comedy can also apply to hip hop music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[434,605,675],"class_list":["post-9456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-hip-hop","tag-mental-notes","tag-nonstophiphop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}