Open Mike Eagle is a 45 year old MC, producer & comedian from Chicago, Illinois known for being a member of the Project Blowed collective. His full-length debut Unapologetic Art Rap wouldn’t arrive until 2010, following it up with Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes & 4NML HSPTL preceding his Mello Music Group debut Dark Comedy. Paul White would later be brought in to produce Hella Personal Film Festival & would depart MMG after Brick Body Kids Still Daydream to form his own label Auto Reverse Records. Anime, Trauma & Divorce alongside Another Triumph of Ghetto Engineering and Neighborhood Gods Unlimited each had their own highlights but I thought his 10th studio LP marking his debut for Backwoodz Studioz distributed Rhymesayers Entertainment would be something special considering Kenny Segal’s involvement.
“Out to Lunch” makes for an outstanding jazz rap intro advising not to let him make your day if that favor cannot be returned whereas “Streets of Rage: Public Arguments Edition” featuring Gothic Tropic hooks up a vibraphone mixed with kicks & snares talking about tapping x to hold the block back like a video game. “Doomed!” turns up the jazziness referencing WWE Hall of Famer, former 2-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, 3-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, 2-time WCW World Television Champion & 5-time WWE United States Champion Lex Luger.
Hemlock Ernst shows up on the soulful “Unfinished Concrete Initials” talking about the apartment & wallet being left empty when it’s all said & done just before “Don’t Go Look (Battleworld Focus Prayer)” comes to the realization of possibly getting what he asked for over a synth-driven boom bap instrumental. “She Swear I’m Colorblind” featuring billy woods saves my favorite guest appearance for last talking about everyday thing becoming fashioned into weapons while “Science Fiction (Fantasy)” suggests to protect your peace if you want it.
“The Irredeemable Magic Man” kicks off the 2nd half with some bluesy licks talking about a magician who can never return because of his inability to improve while “The Many Hustles of My Lonely Time Traveling Uncle” returns to the boom bap discusses building an empire off selling nokia phone cases. “Trying to Remember What I Aimed At” psychedelically talks about executives & this industry at large being bullshit while “Schrödinger’s Green Room (There But Uninvited)” brings some horns in the picture telling the story of an intrusive man.
After the “It Happens In Every Universe” interlude, “Sweetheart Jail” dustily talks about a cruel & unusual person sitting behind bars who was arrested on a Friday night while “Infinity War Spoilers” gets in his nerdcore bag a bit spoiling the greatest Avengers flick. “Watching a Movie Called Freedom By Myself” concludes Mike’s official Backwoodz/Rhymesayers debut Doomed!: Rap Songs About a Relationship That Ends in Every Possible Universe on a dreamier note talking about the green chasing his blues away.
From the very moment Rhymesayers Entertainment began their distribution partnership with Backwoodz Studioz a year earlier, the whole label’s been on quite the run & Doomed!: Rap Songs About a Relationship That Ends in Every Possible Universe adds to that, joining Dark Comedy along with Hella Personal Film Festival & Brick Body Kids Still Daydream to become a top 5 statement in Open Mike Eagle’s catalog mostly because of the way he uses Kenny Segal’s experimentally jazzy production to paint his impression of a dead world through his abstract lyricism.
Score: 9/10