At this point in his career, Open Mike Eagle (born Michael W. Eagle II in Chicago) regularly books festivals like Pickathon, and is currently touring the US with his buddies WHY? He’s a well-known rapper, but still under-the-radar enough that he has to accept some awkward bookings, like a recent stint at a film festival.
“Imagine performing for a 1,000-seat theater that’s completely empty,” Eagle says over the phone from his home in Los Angeles. “By the time you’re three or four songs in, the place is filled. Some people are super into it, some can’t be bothered. I did it, like, three times and every time there was this feeling that I could only call ‘the awkward raw.’ So much of my career has put me in those positions that don’t make for a necessarily enjoyable experience.”
Such is the curse of someone who once dared to self-describe his genre as “art rap.” Eagle says he feels more comfortable in the company of middle-aged stand-up comics than his hip-hop peers. His appeal is immediate. Since emerging from the Project Blowed collective in the late ’90s, he’s maintained a calm, measured flow that allows his verbal roundelays (“So I take five, Dave Brubeck/I make jazz jokes so I’m flat broke/Mad at Lost and that black smoke”) and razor-wire wit to slice you to ribbons before you realize what hit you.