The vivid, engaging auteur Open Mike Eagle is one of the pillars of the underground rap community, and he's recently added his voice to projects from peers like Aesop Rock and Rhys Langston. Last year, OME formed the indie rap group Previous Industries with longtime comrades Still Rift and Video Dave, and they released the debut album Service Merchandise and the follow-up EP Evergreen Plaza. Today, OME announces a conceptual solo album called Neighborhood Gods Unlimited, his follow-up to 2023's Another Triumph Of Ghetto Engineering.
In addition to his many years in the rap trenches, Open Mike Eagle has done some work in TV, co-creating the short-lived Comedy Central show The New Negroes and working on a bunch of other shows. Neighborhood Gods Unlimited was inspired by his experiences growing up in Chicago, and he originally envisioned it as a TV series before deciding to turn it into an album instead. The album features appearances from his Previous Industries bandmates Still Rift and Video Dave, and Kenny Segal produced lead single "contraband (the plug has bags of me)," a memory-drunk song about being a brainy kid in a tough neighborhood. Here's what Open Mike Eagle says about the project:
One project I always come back to is a concept called Dark Comedy Television. It’s a show about a cable network that can only afford to be on the air for an hour a week, so it has to fit its entire slate of programs in that hour...
The trauma at the center of Neighborhood Gods Unlimited is mine. I was shattered as a young person, and I spent the majority of my life not knowing it. In my ignorance, I would go on to shatter myself even further because it was all I knew. This is a story about how people who are trying to find themselves get confused when they encounter things that remind them of themselves...
It felt good to make, and sometimes TV forces you to abandon things you’ve put your heart into. If that had happened with a project around this particular subject matter, it would have been bad for my mental health.
Open Mike Eagle has a bunch of tour dates coming up. He'll do headlining shows with Cavalier and Rhys Langston this summer, and he's also got some dates opening for clipping. and then Phantogram. Below, check out "contraband (the plug has bags of me)," the Neighborhood Gods Unlimited tracklist, and OME's upcoming shows.
TRACKLIST:
01 "woke up knowing everything (opening theme)"
02 "me and aquil stealing stuff from work" (feat. Mr. AQ)
03 "contraband (the plug has bags of me)"
04 "almost broke my nucleus accumbens" (feat Still Rift)
05 "ok but I’m the phone screen"
06 "michigan j. Wonder"
07 "mirror pieces in a leather bound suitcase" (feat. Video Dave)
08 "restless hands and feet"
09 "my co-worker clark kent’s secret black box"
10 "rejoinder (burning the last puzzle piece)"
11 "a dream of the midnight baby (not a euphemism)"
12 "wide leg michael jordan generation x jeans"
13 "sorry I got huge (also not a euphemism)"
14 "unlimited skull voices"
TOUR DATES:
7/09 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo ^+
7/10 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill ^+
7/11 - Portland, OR @ Mission Theater ^+
7/13 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza ^+
7/14 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux ^+
7/15 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge ^+
7/17 - Denver, CO @ Lost Lake ^+
7/19 - Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive ^+
7/23 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon ^+
7/24 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern ^+
7/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry ^+
8/13 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
8/14 - South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase
8/15 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club *
8/16 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club *
8/31 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore #
9/03 - Rochester, NY @ Anthology #
9/04 - Albany, NY @ Empire Live #
9/05 - Montreal, QC @ Theatre Beanfield #
9/08 - Portland, ME @ State Theater #
9/10 - Norwalk, CT @ District Music Hall #
9/11 - Allentown, PA @ Archer Music Hall #
9/12 - Huntington, NY @ The Paramount #
9/15 - Richmond, VA @ The National #
^ with Cavalier
+ with Rhys Langston
* with clipping.
# with Phantogram
Neighborhood Gods Unlimited is out 7/11 on Open Mike Eagle's own Auto Reverse Records.
