Steve 'Flash' JuonSpoiler alert — I like Open Mike Eagle a lot. I subscribe to his YouTube channel and it’s not just because he’s a great rapper (he is) or an incredibly thoughtful person (he’s that too). We have similarly nerdy interests — pro wrestling, video games, and critiquing the music industry. Sometimes you just vibe with the energy that someone puts out into the universe. Mike is the kind of rapper where if we sat down together to talk I probably wouldn’t know if he was interviewing me or vice versa. It probably wouldn’t even be a structured conversation whatsoever — just a collection of our thoughts about the shit that’s on our mind at the time. In that same vein I present “Hella Personal Film Festival.“
“You know what? Fuck it, just lie
You ain’t gotta say shit, fuck it, just lie
Don’t say shit, just hide, just fake it, just lie
I said it but I changed my motherfucking mind, just lie”
Mike puts a disarming level of himself into songs like “Insecurity.” Rappers are expected to act larger than life, but Mike is freely confessing to impostor syndrome and questioning what he’s doing with his whole chest out. “You ain’t gotta say it like that though/it’s about being real and not being an asshole/you can keep it real without being so rude though/we all hella grown and you know when it’s too cold.” This is a man who craves honesty even if he’s afraid of the scars that truth could leave on his ego. There’s a raw nakedness to songs like “Smiling (Quirky Race Doc)” when he explains the awful assumptions that white people can make upon seeing him. He wants to set the record straight.
“I don’t want you, your purse, or your pocketbook
Them dumb yoga pants, boots, or fur with the octopus
Trust, I’m not trying to polish your toes
Take your wallet and phone, or follow you home”
Mike’s frustration when he says he’s “trying to seem dumber than I IS“ is palpable. He has to make things comfortable for the OTHER who is not like him. Open Mike Eagle is like that. He’s not afraid to put that conversation in the air. If you’re a follower of his content that’s what you’ve come to expect, and if you weren’t I hope this is a pleasant introduction to it. Mike can talk about the culture and can also call aspects of the culture into question. Nobody gets a free hall pass and people with large platforms have larger expectations for what they do with it. “Sometimes I don’t even know why I say things” quips Mike on “Leave People Alone.” I do though. If he bottled it up he’d explode.
“Hella Personal Film Festival” slipped through the cracks until now. Maybe it was because it was produced by Paul White, whose Wikipedia page has had the somewhat alarming notice that it violates their policies by being PAID FOR, yet it has carried that notice since October 2019 without changing. I’m not sure what shady beneath the table deals he was or wasn’t engaged in, but I do know that his music for Mike is as solid as an oak table. From the odd tempo of “Dive Bar Support Group” to the jazzy and smooth “I Went Outside Today” featuring Aesop Rock, the tracks are as diverse in style as they are listenable thanks to how well Paul and Mike gel.
I can’t point a loaded weapon at your head and tell you to listen to Mike’s music, but after over a decade of reviews you should have enough evidence that Open Mike Eagle is pretty dang good at what he does. If this particular piece doesn’t inspire you to check him out, read one of the others or sample some of his music for free online. If it rings true for you then maybe this conclusion will as well — like a dope indie film that never finds a major distributor “Hella Personal Film Festival” is good because it dares to be different without having its head up its own ass about it. It’s unpretentious and real.