Video: Open Mike Eagle, ‘Death Parade’

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Open Mike Eagle (Photo by R. Gardiner)

Open Mike Eagle’s powerful new song “Death Parade” is about “the cycle of trauma — the personal trauma that’s been a throughline in my life and how traumatized people tend to inflict more trauma on themselves and others,” he says.

It stands to reason that qualities like love and forgiveness are subject to the same cycle, but the name of the rapper’s album (out Friday) is “Anime, Trauma and Divorce,” so buckle up for some bleak. “Death Parade” is the lead track on the album.

The song, produced by Caleb Stone with additional production by Jacknife Lee, gets a dramatic visual treatment from Montreal-based animator-director Ben Clarkson (last spotted doing this for Jimkata).

Open Mike Eagle streams a “Live Emotional Processing Event,” directed by Baron Vaughn from the stage at Dynasty Typewriter, at 6 p.m. Friday. Pay-what-you-can tickets here.

||| Watch: The video for “Death Parade”

||| Previously: “Bucciarati” feat. Kari Faux (video and stream), Stony Island Audio, live at the Echo, live at the Skirball, “I Went Outside Today (feat. Aesop Rock)” with Paul White, “Check to Check” with Paul White, “Feel at Home” with Nobody,” Echo Park Rising (2015), “Celebrity Reduction Prayer,” “Raps for When It’s Just You and the Abyss,” Ears Wide Open