''Service Merchandise'' is the debut studio album by Los Angeles hip hop trio Previous Industries, a group consisting of rappers Open Mike Eagle, Still Rift, and Video Dave. The album was released on June 28, 2024, by

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expand ...

. It was preceded by three singles. The group originated during hangouts at Eagle's apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with group writing sessions leading to the creation of the album's songs. The project revolves thematically around the subject of defunct American

retail chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, Management, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories ...

s, with the album and all its songs named after various such stores. Most of the album was produced by

Child Actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

, aside from two songs produced by

Quelle Chris Gavin Christopher Tennille (born October 19, 1984), known as Quelle Chris, is an American record producer, rapper and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. He has released over 15 albums as a solo act and with his collaborative projects. Career Te ...

and one by Smoke Bonito. The album features two guest verses: Queen Herawin on "Montgomery Ward", and Quelle Chris on "Dominick's".

Background

Eagle and Still Rift met as sophomores at Whitney Young High School in Chicago, and Eagle met Video Dave when both were students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. After college, Still Rift stayed in Chicago while Eagle moved to Los Angeles and Dave moved to New York City. Dave later moved to Los Angeles to act as a consultant on Eagle's

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

series ''The New Negroes with Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle'', which was canceled after its first season. Eagle addressed this cancellation, as well as his divorce and the dissolution of his other hip hop group Hellfyre Club, on the '' Anime, Trauma and Divorce'' song "Everything Ends Last Year", and noted that Previous Industries's beginnings coincided with all that. Their prior work together as a trio includes the songs "Multi-Game Arcade Cabinet" (also featuring R.A.P. Ferreira), "Circuit City", and "Kites" from Eagle's 2022 album '' Component System with the Auto Reverse'', and "The Grand Prize Game on the Bozo Show" and "WFLD 32" from Eagle's 2023 album '' Another Triumph of Ghetto Engineering''.

Writing and recording

During the

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

, the three formed a social pod, hanging out at Eagle's apartment and playing ''

Tekken 7 is a 2015 fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the seventh main and ninth overall installment in the ''Tekken'' series, and is the first in that series to be released for PC. ''Tekken 7'' was released to Am ...

'' and '' Street Fighter V'' together. During that time, they started having group songwriting sessions that lasted for five months, with their work eventually turning into ''Service Merchandise''. During the writing process, the trio bonded over their memories of old technology and defunct American retail chains that became the namesakes of the album and its tracks, including Service Merchandise, Zayre, White Hen Pantry,

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

, and

Fotomat Fotomat was an American retail chain of photo development drive-through kiosks located primarily in shopping center parking lots. Fotomat Corporation was founded by Preston Fleet in San Diego, California, in the 1960s, with the first kiosk open ...

. This subject matter became the conceptual heart of the group, and, according to Dave, it was the first thing they came up with after Eagle showed the other two his collection of old magazines.

Release

Previous Industries was first announced on January 24 with the release of the two-song single "Showbiz"/"Braids". "Showbiz" was produced by

, and "Braids" by

. Each member's verse on "Showbiz" begins with an

interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...

of the song "

The Humpty Dance "The Humpty Dance" is a song by the American hip-hop group Digital Underground from their debut album ''Sex Packets''. Released as the second single from the album in January 1990, it reached No. 11 on the pop chart, No. 7 on the R&B chart, and N ...

". They also announced that the group had signed with

. ''Service Merchandise'' was announced on April 23, with its release date set for June 28 by Merge. The second single, "Pliers", was released the same day, also produced by Child Actor. It came with a music video, directed by Video Dave and animated by Crankbunny, which is a shot-for-shot remake of "Show me the way to go home" scene from the film '' Jaws''. Eagle called "Pliers" a "song about tension, pressure and using our tools. It's about the pressure of being middle-aged in rap, the pressure of sharing oneself in relationships and a high stack of yesterdays about to topple into tomorrow. It's the sound of the fight to take a deep breath." The group also announced US tour dates for July through October. The third single, "Zayre", was released on May 29, and was also produced by Child Actor.

Themes

The album's central concept is related to defunct American

stores, expanding on the concept to covers themes including nostalgia, heartbreak, loss,

middle age Middle age (or middle adulthood) is the age range of the years halfway between childhood and old age. The exact range is subject to public debate, but the term is commonly used to denote the age range from 45 to 65 years. Overall This time span ...

, memory, and the parallel histories of commercial hip hop and

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...

businesses. ''Flood Magazine''s Taylor Ruckle said the themes are conveyed through lyrical triple entendres, and that the cultural touchstones touched upon are "symbol cof an aspirational

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

comfort that's since gone the way of

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

s and

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

Reception

''Flood Magazine''s Ruckle wrote that the album "makes up for a lack of melodic hooks with verse after verse of peak rap performances full of insight, humor, and sophisticated wordplay."

Track listing

Personnel

Previous Industries * Open Mike Eagle – vocals * Still Rift – vocals * Video Dave – vocals Additional contributors * Queen Herawin – vocals (5) *

– vocals (9) * Kenny Segal –

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

* Daddy Kev –

mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

* Sam Operchuck and Freddie Sze – photography

References

{{Open Mike Eagle 2024 debut albums 2024 collaborative albums Previous Industries albums Merge Records albums Albums produced by Child Actor (band)