Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream is the fourth studio album by Open Mike Eagle. It was released via Mello Music Group on September 15, 2017.[1] It includes guest appearances from Sammus and Has-Lo.[2] It is a concept album about the Robert Taylor Homes, a public housing project in Chicago, Illinois.[3] The cover art was illustrated by McKay Felt.[4] Music videos were created for "95 Radios",[5] "Brick Body Complex",[6] "No Selling (Uncle Butch Pretending It Don't Hurt)",[7] "Happy Wasteland Day",[8] and "Hymnal".[9] The album received widespread acclaim from critics and landed on several year-end lists.

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 15, 2017 (2017-09-15)
GenreHip hop
Length39:17
LabelMello Music Group
ProducerExile, DJ Nobody, Andrew Broder, Kenny Segal, Illingsworth, Caleb Stone, Lo-Phi, Elos, Has-Lo, Toylight
Open Mike Eagle chronology
Hella Personal Film Festival
(2016)
Brick Body Kids Still Daydream
(2017)
Anime, Trauma and Divorce
(2020)

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [11]
Chicago Readerfavorable[12]
Robert ChristgauA−[13]
Consequence of SoundB[14]
Los Angeles Timesfavorable[15]
Pitchfork8.1/10[16]
Rolling Stone     [17]
The Skinny     [18]
Spinfavorable[19]
Uproxxfavorable[20]

The album received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[10]

Matthew Ismael Ruiz of Pitchfork gave the album an 8.1 out of 10, saying, "Brick Body Kids Still Daydream serves as an antidote to dystopian depictions of the neighborhoods and communities on Chicago's South Side that are often one-dimensional, serving as a glimpse into the mind of a poet who can see the beauty and articulate it through the eyes of a child."[16]

Andrew Gordon of The Skinny gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "[Open Mike Eagle's] most thematically coherent work yet."[18] Aaron Williams of Uproxx said, "Fans of cascading rhymes and rewind-button-crushing wordplay will appreciate that Mike's gift of gab remains refreshingly (or stubbornly) intact in an era of stripped-down cadences and simplistic content."[20]

Accolades

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Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
NPR 50 Best Albums of 2017
29
Pitchfork 50 Best Albums of 2017
49
Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2017
34
Stereogum 40 Best Rap Albums of 2017
16

Track listing

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No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Legendary Iron Hood"Exile3:47
2."(How Could Anybody) Feel at Home"DJ Nobody4:14
3."Hymnal" (featuring Sammus)Andrew Broder3:20
4."No Selling (Uncle Butch Pretending It Don't Hurt)"Kenny Segal3:02
5."Happy Wasteland Day"Exile3:42
6."Daydreaming in the Projects"Illingsworth3:12
7."Brick Body Complex"Caleb Stone4:07
8."TLDR (Smithing)"Illingsworth2:47
9."Breezeway Ritual"Lo-Phi2:24
10."Wedding Ghosts"Elos2:18
11."95 Radios" (featuring Has-Lo)Has-Lo4:03
12."My Auntie's Building"Toylight2:15

Personnel

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Credits adapted from liner notes.

  • Open Mike Eagle – vocals, executive production
  • Dan Miller – guitar (1)
  • Exile – production (1, 5)
  • Jordan Katz – additional production (1, 6, 10, 11), additional live instruments
  • DJ Nobody – production (2)
  • Sammus – vocals (3)
  • Andrew Broder – production (3)
  • Kenny Segal – production (4)
  • Illingsworth – production (6, 8)
  • Caleb Stone – production (7)
  • Lo-Phi – production (9)
  • Elos – production (10)
  • Has-Lo – vocals (11), production (11)
  • Toylight – production (12)
  • Daddy Kev – mixing, mastering
  • McKay Felt – artwork
  • Sarah Dalton – graphic design
  • Michael Tolle – executive production
  • Mark Bowen – executive production

References

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  1. ^ Slingerland, Calum (September 14, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle 'Brick Body Kids Still Daydream' (album stream)". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  2. ^ Eustice, Kyle (September 15, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle Drops "Brick Body Kids Still Daydream" Album". HipHopDX. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  3. ^ Lee, Christina (September 15, 2017). "Can rap shine a light on America's social housing crisis?". The Guardian. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  4. ^ Chesman, Donna-Claire (October 24, 2017). "Hey, You're Cool! Illustrator McKay Felt". Mass Appeal. Archived from the original on January 10, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  5. ^ Wicks, Amanda (July 31, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle Announces New Album, Shares Video for New Song "95 Radios": Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  6. ^ Josephs, Brian (August 24, 2017). "Video: Open Mike Eagle – "Brick Body Complex"". Spin. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  7. ^ Melendez, Monique (October 25, 2017). "Video: Open Mike Eagle — "No Selling (Uncle Butch Pretending It Don't Hurt)"". Spin. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  8. ^ Williams, Aaron (November 8, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle's 'Happy Wasteland Day' Video Is A Thinly-Veiled Strike At 'Garbage King' Donald Trump". Uproxx. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Kaye, Ben (December 18, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle and Sammus are evangelical preachers in new video for "Hymnal": Watch". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Brick Body Kids Still Daydream by Open Mike Eagle". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  11. ^ Simpson, Paul (September 15, 2017). "Brick Body Kids Still Daydream - Open Mike Eagle | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  12. ^ Galil, Leor (September 15, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle revisits the traumatic destruction of the Robert Taylor Homes on Brick Body Kids Still Daydream". Chicago Reader. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  13. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Open Mike Eagle". Christgau's Consumer Guide. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  14. ^ Weiss, Dan (September 14, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle – Brick Body Kids Still Daydream". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  15. ^ Roberts, Randall (September 22, 2017). "California Sounds: New L.A. music from Open Mike Eagle, Linda Perhacs and Neil Young". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  16. ^ a b Ruiz, Matthew Ismael (September 19, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle: Brick Body Kids Still Daydream". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  17. ^ Weingarten, Christopher R. (October 6, 2017). "Review: Open Mike Eagle Offers Impressionistic History Lesson". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  18. ^ a b Gordon, Andrew (September 14, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle – Brick Body Kids Still Daydream". The Skinny. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  19. ^ Josephs, Brian (September 20, 2017). "Review: Open Mike Eagle's Righteous Brick Body Kids Still Daydream Weighs the Human Cost of Urban Renewal". Spin. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  20. ^ a b Williams, Aaron (September 14, 2017). "Open Mike Eagle Perfects The Craft Of The Concept Album With 'Brick Body Kids Still Daydream'". Uproxx. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  21. ^ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2017 (2/3)". NPR. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  22. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2017 (1/5)". Pitchfork. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  23. ^ "50 Best Albums of 2017: 34. Open Mike Eagle, 'Brick Body Kids Still Daydream'". Rolling Stone. November 27, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  24. ^ "The 40 Best Rap Albums Of 2017". Stereogum. December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
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