Open Mike Eagle and Kenny Segal crafted a hip hop breakup masterpiece
“Breakups are… tough.”
It’s the opening lines of an interlude towards the end of DOOMED! Called “It Happens in Every Universe.” It’s also basically the thesis of the entire record. It’s no grand revelation, but it’s a well-trodden subject that Open Mike Eagle manages to mine for artistic gold.
Eagle’s subject matter is usually personal, and his productions tinged with nostalgia. But DOOMED! is his most intimate album yet. A lot of that is due to the production from Kenny Segal. The two have traveled in the same orbit and worked together before, but this is the first full-length album release from the two.
These are some of Segal’s most commanding beats since Maps, his 2023 record with Billy Woods. There’s still warbly piano samples, strings, detuned sax melodies, and psychedelic synths, but everything feels more grounded and meaders less. Opener “Out to Lunch” even has fully on-the-grid hi-hats...
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