I'm going to say that I am in this moment okay, but I'm dealing with a large store of big, bad emotions underneath the surface.

It's Depression Mode. I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here. Open Mic Eagle has been a popular and critically praised hip-hop artist for many years. Seven solo albums, rave reviews from critics

and indie rap fans who love his introspective, complex, and often cerebral writing.

The last time I interviewed Mike, he and his wife had moved into a new home with their son, Asa.

Mike is indie rap royalty, but he had recently made the leap to the mainstream, co-hosting The New Negroes, a show on Comedy Central with Baron Vaughn.

He was touring the world with his music.

When I talked to him in February of this year, things were different.

We were coming up on a year of COVID, and we had just seen riots at the Capitol, Trump fighting

the election results, and that whole weird game stop stock market thing

that comes up in the interview. And by this point, here was Mike's life. The TV show, canceled.

The touring, canceled. The marriage over, leaving a tough custody situation in its wake.

The house, well, I spoke to Mike from the apartment where he now

lives, sometimes with Asa, sometimes not. That's a lot of pain to deal with, especially considering

he has a history with anxiety and depression. But Mike did something with the pain. He used it as

art supplies. Open Mike Eagle wrote about what he was going through

and turned what he had written into an album called Anime Trauma Divorce. In that album, you hear a guy

struggling. You hear his education and background in psychology, and you hear someone taking a hard look at himself to try to figure stuff out.

Broken as it began.

Falling apart, I can't hold it together. All in the art cause I won't live forever.

I had a direction and split from the thesis. Now I need more fingers to pick up the pieces.

Fire and follow the line and the writing.

Fall was exciting. My winter coat is removable linings.

...