The first time I ever heard Open Mike Eagle was actually his guest appearance on the Paul F. Tompkins podcast

Spontaneanation.

I instantly loved his sense of humor and started checking out the other stuff that he was involved in. Besides being involved with the UCB comedy/podcasting scene (he co-hosts a podcast about

Adventure Time

and another about pro-wrestling, weirdly enough), Mike is also a prolific rapper whose new album

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

came out this year. The album is absolutely fantastic, and it kind of encapsulates everything that I love about Mike.

One of my favorite thing about Mike’s music, and this album in particular, is how well he blends serious social commentary with comedy. Mike talks about the destruction of the Robert Taylor Homes complex in Chicago (of which his aunt was a resident) and how painful it was watching an entire community being driven out of their homes throughout the album. However, on the song “95 Radios”, Mike is a lot more blissful and nostalgic about his time growing up in Chicago. While the topics he raps about are pretty serious, Mike is pretty much constantly making jokes and references to everything from

Lost

to

We Bare Bears.

One of my favorite moments on the album is how he blends in a ton of X-Men references into the track “Legendary Iron Hood” while also discussing police brutality in his hometown. I also loved Sammus’ feature on the song “Hymnal” where she uses the same rhyme scheme (“clean socks...freeze pops...defrost...etc.) throughout her entire verse, but still manages to make it sound very fresh. Overall, this album is incredibly heartfelt and personal while also maintaining Mike’s sense of humor that he’s known for.

So obviously I think that

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

is amazing, but Mike’s other music is absolutely worth checking out as well. His album

Dark Comedy

and his EP

A Special Episode

both contain the same kind of humor and social commentary that his newest album has, so if you find yourself interested in him at all, definitely listen to those. Outside of his rapping, Mike’s UCB show called

The New Negroes

that he does with Baron Vaughn is being picked up to be made as a series for Comedy Central, so I’m excited to see that. On other shows, he has done everything from playing a rapping gingerbread man on

Adventure Time

to participating in a segment called “Rapper Warrior Ninja” on

The Eric Andre Show

(fun fact: Mike was actually Hannibal Buress’ RA in college). Also, his real name is Mike Eagle, and that’s kind of the coolest thing in the world. If you haven’t listened to any of his music, definitely check out Open Mike Eagle because he deserves a lot of attention for the amazing work that he’s putting out.