Music is a vital, yet under-appreciated tool for socializing young people into politics. In fact, it is almost standard operating procedure of adolescence to be 13 years old and listening to Rage Against The Machine, discovering that you are angry at the world but not entirely sure why. But as we grow older and ditch our "rebel without cause" mentality in favor of more meaningful activism, we discover that rap and hip-hop are some of the most political genres of music there are. One prime example of this is Open Mike Eagle, who is notable not just for occasionally being political, but for his messages in particular. He takes a stance which has seemingly been abandoned in American liberal politics, that which emphasizes the dignity and freedom of the individual.
Open Mike Eagle makes a clear defense of civil liberties. He often uses his music to critique the egregious ways our rights and liberties are violated. In his song Dark Comedy Late Show, he laments the deplorable mistreatment of Black Americans by police in the lines “It’s close to an all out war/With kids being murdered just for being black and tall outdoors.” His critiques of erroneous government action also extend beyond the borders of the United States. He comments on our seemingly endless military presence in the Middle East when he says “Invade Iraq fifteen times in my adulthood/And we quit asking for the reasons.” Open Mike Eagle embraces a brand of left-leaning civil libertarianism far more consequential than that of the right-wing, which attempts to do battle with public roads or necessary social programs for those in need; he instead bases his position on the notion that people should not lose life arbitrarily at the hands of the state.
However, our greatest insight into the ideology of Open Mike Eagle comes from examining his extensive discussion on technology and privacy rights. In Dark Comedy Late Show, he uses the analogy of the “Super Bowls of the future” to highlight a number of important issues of today, one of which being “privacy rights versus the personal computers.” Although many of Open Mike Eagle’s technology-themed songs, such as “Check To Check” and “Informations” deal with the subject on a personal level, he clearly establishes which side of the privacy debate he is on in other songs. In Dark Comedy Morning Show, he notes “Google knows what’s in my cabinet/And Facebook logs all of my favorite sandwiches” while questioning “what they need the damn data for?” This stance separates Open Mike Eagle from a number of other musicians who do not even discuss the subject.
