Open Mike Eagle – “Neighborhood Protection Spell (lana del biden nem)”
Although Open Mike Eagle hasn’t released an album since Brick Body Kids Still Daydream in 2017, the rapper and comedian has been plenty busy since then — What Happens When I Try To Relax, his Comedy Central show The New Negroes, a series of new songs for various projects, a documentary about his pro wrestling debut, the Quarantine Recordings Cavanaugh EP with Serengeti. And not he’s back with another new one-off single called “Neighborhood Protection Spell (lana del biden nem)” for Mad Dragon, a student-run label operated out of Drexel University.
“When I wrote this song the world was not on fire yet,” Mike explains in a statement. “I had felt subtle attacks on blackness from Joe Biden and other public figures. Notions that were harmful about authenticity. Notions that called our behavioral and consumption choices into question without any reference to the historical context that they are couched in. I made this song as a spell to ward off subtle social attacks at blackness. I put a lot in it to make sure it works.”
The music video for the contemplative song, directed and edited by Ryan Calavano, shows Mike rapping in a face mask while walking past Black Lives Matter shirts and graffiti like “End Police Violence.” Watch and listen to “Neighborhood Protection Spell (lana del biden nem)” below.