I think you interpreted this with about 95% accuracy, actually delving into the meaning behind his poetry rather than just going "woah, he must read the dictionary" like most other reactors. This is probably the best breakdown of this song on RUclips I will say you were a bit off the mark on two aspects. It wasn't just about his childhood, Aes pursued his passion past his basic education and went to art school. He got a classical art education and could probably hold a conversation with a museum curator on art history and various dates of an artist's life. His music often has a lot of classical art references in it. But that's not on you for not knowing, you have to already know Aesop's history for that. Also, "foreshortening" is an art technique describing needing to shorten an object as it moves into the foreground. So if the left forearm in a painting was pointing towards the viewer while the right one was at rest, you would need to make the outline of the left limb shorter than its twin. This gives the illusion of proper depth of field in the painting. Hard to describe a visual technique in text but if you google an example you'll understand immediately.
Hey you fuck with some Aesop so you must like some Hail Mary Mallon right? (Aes and Rob) .. My favorite song is Jonathon, but like, Grubstake, Breakdance Beach, Dollywood, Whales...so many are just great.. the lyrics are to crazy xD like what you do fablesphere keep it up 😇@@traktician
Aesop is hands down the greatest rapper there is. Eminem cant hold a candle to him. Hes too dope for human consumption. Please do more of him. Daylight/nightlight is an absolute masterpiece. Cycles to gehenna is a heart wrenching story about tempting death
A little bit to touch base on for the "the stars that align when a forearm starts foreshortening right". Foreshortening in art is the way that we capture the size vs distance in art. For example, a picture of someone reaching towards the viewer would require the artist to use foreshorteninf, making the hand bigger in proportion due to its close proximity. He's basically saying "you can't believe the feeling of elation that you get when you finally create that perfectly accurate illustration". Similarly, the line that talks about flesh "hung on a warping spine starts reading as warm and alive" is a continuation; "you can't believe the elation you feel when you draw a human form that feels real and alive rather than just a drawing"
Yeah was going to point this out in my comment as well, but looks like you got it covered. The misunderstanding is understandable given it doesn't seem like he's all that familair with artistic techniques and terminology.
you really nailed this breakdown and caught a whole lot, I really recommend reacting to more of his stuff. His discography is huge. Some of his best writing is daylight/nightlight.
Foreshortening right is also like when you draw an arm that has the hand closer than the body so it gives a 3d type perspective that is much different than if it wasn’t a hand that was just to the side.😊
Subbed. You have one of the best reactions to Aes. Hope you continue to do well bro. Love your work. EDIT: don’t ever apologise for pausing on an Aes song. It’s what makes your reactions so good.
As soon as I heard run the jewels I knew the guy knew… EL-P is one of the founders of Rhymesayers the record company responsible for some of the best goddamn hip hop I’ve ever heard.. one of the progenitors of independent hip hop, he’s so goddamn underrated and well known at the same time it’s hard to reconcile lol
@@aonutsihasnouith holy hell did I get a messy memory or what lol I just got flipped up over all those EL-P appearances on Aesop records.. thanks for the re-education!
I love the breakdown! Dont feel bad for pausing every few seconds because he really packs a lot into a few lines. I love seeing people take a crack at his songs sometimes he references stuff that i just dont know about and others' inputs add to how i see it. Definitely recommend more from Aesop, anything from this Albums Skelethon, The Impossible Kid, or Spirit World Field Guide are excellent choices
You did great analyzing the song. I'm a big Aesop fan but I'm also not a native speaker so I love to hear other people's thoughts about his music to better understand his work. I will be looking forward to more of these.
Fil, great breakdown of this poetry ❤🔥. Love, love, love this. The imagery is sublime, extraordinarily and transcendently impressive. #QcumberSquad #AesopRock - Fil, I'm off back to the study.
This is one of the best breakdowns. You're catching nearly everything. Btw, Ungluing is just un-glue-ing, like to remove adhesive from something or separate something into two that was once one. Please react to more Aesop! I think you'd enjoy "Aesop Rock - Pizza Alley" which is about an Ayahuasca trip in Peru. The way he uses that indirect 'around the bush' language to describe the scenes and settings of Lima, Peru and his journey into the jungle is incredible. It's pretty hard to catch all of it without lyrics pulled up however as some of the references are specific to Peruvian culture.
Thanks man.. appreciate it. I was such an idiot, when I went back to that word it was ungluing... So simple but I was making it out to be something else. 🤦
Brilliant reaction and great job breaking everything down - you grasped the message right away! Aes is a fantastic writer and I truly believe he's unparalleled, easy. He's been around for 25+ years and each era represents a different side of his. He has been dope since day one and hasn't stumbled yet and his discography is flawless.
Wow an outstanding breakdown ..Top Tier ..this was absolutely incredible ..layers here you really did amazing ..an amazing request ..l9ve spending time here thanku so much love an God bless always x always from Cyprus x
I've just subscribed in hopes that you do more Aesop Rock! This is by far one of the best Aesop reactions/breakdowns I've seen. You get it. Great work!
Aesop was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day.
Man, i just want to thank you for breaking or interpreting this song very well. As non-native speakers it is truly hard to understand what he's trying to communicate with me but you know I'm trying so hard to understand and need more idioms or any talking dolphin to explain to the student like me. Anyway amazing job you do man, thanks a million! Hi from Indonesia!
I always assumed the line "You can't imagine the rush that ensue when you get three dimensions stuffed into two" was about drawing. The three-dimensional world being the one we live in and the two-dimensional world being a sheet of paper. I figured that lyric was about his excitement when he got a drawing to look exactly the way he wanted it. One thing to remember though is that he will never explain his lyrics. If you met him and asked him about what any given verse meant, he would ask you, "What do YOU think it means?"
It is both at the same time. A lot of his lines can work three or four different ways. Literally you put 3 dimensions stuffed into 2 in a drawing. Listening to an art school dropout doing a lyric video he goes into Art School is "just there to make you a product". < Which is kind of what you pay for... Because most people want to live doing art and that makes you have to interact with capitalism at some point. Then you have heard the song a dozen times. The juxtaposition of both meanings makes a sin wave of meaning, because it is both at the same time. Aes' Song almost always have extradimensionalty. Freaking brilliant.
This is really about Aes seeing himself as a visual artist for the first 20 years of his life, and going to art school to pursue that passion...and then walking away from drawing and painting, to focus on rapping. It's about how he regrets losing that part of his creative life.
Its really not though. He literally said himself that what james said is what this song is about. There is nothing to read between, he is just talking about how he feels he lost his abilities in drawing over the years because he stopped practicing.@@dadaluma13
I've loved your Aesop breakdowns so far. Very insightful and informative, even to someone who has been listening to him for many years. I think his older stuff is even more of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I'm talking Appleseed/ Float / Labor Days. But, if I can make a request, it would be from his album None Shall Pass. The song is called Keep Off the Lawn. The entire album is fire but I think this would be a great intro, and, fittingly, it's the opening track
Great stuff! Aesop has so many awesome gems he has crafted like this through the decades. I struggle with suggesting just one so here we go, if you want something tough to analyze, check out "Cycles to Gehenna". If you want to start a little 'series' of three songs that is about the death of his friend, Camu Tao, and the spiral that sent him down and his struggle trying to come to terms with it etc, check out "Get out of the car" followed by "Shrunk" followed by "Kirby". If you want to check out something from his newest album, I'd suggest "Flamingo Pink".
So yeah I was thinking of doing Shrunk and Cycles to Gehenna next. Then maybe None Shall Pass or Blood Sandwich. there are so many though, i’ll be sure to request as many as possible. Keep coming back for more!
@@campbellcravens8944 I think Shrunk is best taken in with its companion pieces. Granted, it can be taken as individual songs but the little "trilogy" together is fun!
Really impressed with your breakdown man. It took me a few listens to get to what you got from one. Aesop is my favorite rapper. He's a legit poet, he just makes you work a bit to understand his poetry. You cant really understand how brilliant he is unless you take a little bit of time to break stuff down. Definitely gonna check out yoir other breakdowns of Aes.
Highly recommend more Aesop. This is one of his easiest to understand tracks. It gets so deep. Edit: forgot to mention this is a perfect breakdown. I'd love to see how well you break down some of his other more understandable tracks (like None Shall Pass) or some of his harder to break down tracks (like Jumping Coffin)
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Small detail, but when he repeats "used to draw," he places a heavy emphasis on "used" the second time, to imply that it's the fact that he once did but doesn't anymore that's difficult for him. I love how with just that little opening line, Aes manages to convey a great deal of meaning. Also, when he says "off to a school where it's all that you do, being trained and observed by a capable few," seeing as that follows the line about stuffing 3 dimensions into 2, which is essentially what drawing with perspective is, and knowing that he attended an art college, I tend to interpret that as him directly referencing his formal training in drawing at art school. Though I do also like your interpretation, and I think there could be a double meaning there as well, both literally referring to him going to college for art, and also the way that schools condense the world into "2 dimensions," figuratively speaking, by way of their necessarily imposed structure. I know many who go to an art school have the experience of having a damper placed on their creativity when they study it formally. Though I can see how you came to your interpretation because you were thinking of the lyrics as relating to a child rather than an adult in college. Additionally, when he says "drank Koolaid from a tube of acrylic," he's using a common American English expression. "Drinking the Koolaid" essentially means to buy into something that's not real and implies manipulation from some outside influence. It's a reference to the Jonestown Massacre where a cult leader had over 900 members of his cult drink Koolaid laced with Cyanide and commit suicide en masse after some of the members of the cult shot and murdered a visiting congressman. It's a pretty wild story if you're not familiar with it. But in any case, that's the origin of the expression. Aes is obviously using it in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner here, essentially likening his passion for painting to being in a cult. That along with the way he refers to it as a blooming addiction a few lines prior characterizes his affinity for creating art as something outside of his full control, like it was something he just had to do.
Its funny.... I interpret the song much different in a lot of spots. I was going to tell you where i thought you were wrong, but after some introspection, i think that's the most brilliant thing about aesop (and art in general) is that we can interpret these things differently and it can still be true for all parties. Good video my man ❤
If you chop a tree down and look at the cut surface it has rings as it grows slowly in layers with the seasons, 1 ring is roughly 1 year for most trees. You can tell how old a tree is by ending its life ironically. Thats what he is talking about.
I just commented on Saeed Reacts playlist of Aesop Rock. He is on point but you dig even deeper. I love it. I would pay to hear you do this kind of breakdown on Deca's music. You will not be disappointed. He is on a level of his own. Pretty please, start with "Curiosity Shop" It starts a little abstract then he goes nuclear. then mammon's mantra, breadcrumbs, crab apples, tuning, blight, skyward, maintain.... its a rabbit hole of back to back to back word play puzzles I am sure you will enjoy. you will appreciate the fact he made all those beats, and the album cover artwork.
What i enjoyed about this aong is that it speaks in terms as a artist but it has a double meaning. " backlight" is a term we use to talk about secondary light but it means more than that.
Aesop is not asap rocky. Though there is a video of them meeting. Keep going. Try Dorks, None Shall Pass, Jumping Coffin, Gopher Guts, Water Tower, Bring Back Pluto, 39 Thieves, Pass The Cup, Sick Friend, Kirby, Food Clothes Medicine, Homemade Mummy, Rogue Wave... I could go on. Also his side project with Rob Sonic, Hail Mary Mallon. Foreshortening is when something is portrayed as jutting out towards the viewer. Shading and proportioning that is kinda difficult. And the torso hung on a warping spine line is reference to drawing realistic bodies and it actually looking correct. But your interpretation is valid.
11:21 nah, he's talking about drawing 3D sht on a piece of paper. Hence the ''rush that ensues'' after such dimensional alchemy. That being said, you hit the nail on the head with the ''around the bush lyrics''. I've been saying for some time that Aesop is the grandmaster of beating around the bush.
If you’d like to see some of his drawings, check out Rogue Wave. It pans across a whole bunch of his sketches throughout the music video. I don’t think the paintings at the end of the music video belong to him, but he claims the drawings
"They will chop you down just to count your rings..." Beyond the rings-on-fingers meaning, it also refers to the means of measuring a tree by counting the annual rings of its trunk. The tree can be measured but only by killing it. "Cowardly kings" probably has a couple meanings, too. It could be a reference to the King of Hearts card, sometimes called the "suicide king" because he's stabbing himself in the head with a knife. It might also refer to Eunus (2nd century BC), a slave who led a slave uprising and who promised a better world for everyone who followed him, but ultimately ended up hiding in a cave until he was captured.
Love this song. Love how you break down the lyrics. I would maybe not pause the actual song quite as much and let it play for longer then go back and do it in segments. It would work better on multiple levels… 1) hold the attention of the viewer. 2) get the whole feel and flow of the song that maybe would make some of the early images make more sense in the full context 3) nothing wrong with listening to it twice!
All heart but we would've made cowardly kings is my favorite line in the song. He's saying that it takes a lionheart to pursue your passion in opposition to the world, but by given into your fear, you're the cowardly lion. You go from being King Richard, someone you could've been proud of, to King John, someone you loathe and detest.
I find it hilarious that you have phenomenal insight into the lyrics of this song... You literally taught me a few things about one of my favorite songs... but you totally missed the tree metaphor, "They will chop you down just to count your rings". They don't chop you down for any coherent reason. They chop you down, for numerical research, that you can't understand. They don't even know you're living a life, and trying to be an artist... To them, you're a tree.... What's interesting to them, is how many years you lived... You're a data point.
The hidden irony in this song is that is having regrets about stopping his art. When in actuality is he is still creating art with words instead of paint and pencil.
I wonder if this is regret he is speaking. Unable to live up to the expectations to Lucy? She had no regret. She never had a dream in her life. She just did it remember?
Great breakdown! Love what you did here but it's super duper extra funny to me that your channel name is The FABLE Sphere yet you have absolutely no idea how to pronounce Aesop considering Aesop's FABLES are arguably the most well known FABLES of all time.
Its hard to do an Aesop Rock reaction and breakdown without pausing every few seconds. There are no wasted bars in his music, every single thing he says on wax deserves and demands examination.
I think you misinterpreted the "three dimensions stuffed I to two" line he's just talking about the process of taking real life inspirations or subjects and communicating them onto paper with a pencil or other tool
It doesn’t look like my comments are going through, hopefully i’m not sending the same thing over and over. Gonna try breaking up into smaller comments.
I think this is your best video to date. INCREDIBLE job. I’m so glad to see you resonated with it so strongly. Aesop Rock (yes not A$AP Rocky haha) is truly a one of a kind lyricist. He’s so intricate and verbose that it actually puts off alot of casual listeners. His music is for people like you who love to breakdown every single line. I promise every Aes fan will LOVE this video.
Not only does he pack incredible punch lines, but sometimes just the literal word choice feels like a punch line. So often I will have to look up what a word means that he uses, and then once I do the line hits so hard. it’s a feeling no other rapper can illicit. Once again amazing video Fil, im on my honeymoon in Africa (Kenya not South Africa, but still over in your neck of the woods) and I think i’m gonna rewatch this whole video again now haha. Can’t wait for you to hear more!
Just google “Rappers with the Largest Vocabulary” and read the article I think you’ll enjoy it. It analyzed rappers unique word usage to determine who has the densest vocabulary, and i’m sure you can guess now who won.
love the reaction but I gotta push back on the 2d/3d thing. Hes saying just imagine the rush you get from finally being able to make your 2d piece of paper look like theres a 3d object on it. Like finally being able to actually draw something that looks 3 dimensional and the excitement you would get from it. Then, you go to art school and get judged by the professors that are way more talented and capable than you. Just saying, that's what I think at least
Just listen to the song once instead of trying to infer everything line by line. This is just an odd way to consume this kind of music. Line by line comes later...
![Aesop Rock - Klutz [REACTION]](/img/1.gif)
I think you interpreted this with about 95% accuracy, actually delving into the meaning behind his poetry rather than just going "woah, he must read the dictionary" like most other reactors. This is probably the best breakdown of this song on RUclips
I will say you were a bit off the mark on two aspects. It wasn't just about his childhood, Aes pursued his passion past his basic education and went to art school. He got a classical art education and could probably hold a conversation with a museum curator on art history and various dates of an artist's life. His music often has a lot of classical art references in it. But that's not on you for not knowing, you have to already know Aesop's history for that.
Also, "foreshortening" is an art technique describing needing to shorten an object as it moves into the foreground. So if the left forearm in a painting was pointing towards the viewer while the right one was at rest, you would need to make the outline of the left limb shorter than its twin. This gives the illusion of proper depth of field in the painting. Hard to describe a visual technique in text but if you google an example you'll understand immediately.
Thanks for this. I appreciate the feedback on this... I have 5 more reactions to him coming soon.
Hey you fuck with some Aesop so you must like some Hail Mary Mallon right? (Aes and Rob) .. My favorite song is Jonathon, but like, Grubstake, Breakdance Beach, Dollywood, Whales...so many are just great.. the lyrics are to crazy xD like what you do fablesphere keep it up 😇@@traktician
Wow! What a break ďown! Great reaction to a great artist. 🩸🗝😎
Aesop is hands down the greatest rapper there is. Eminem cant hold a candle to him. Hes too dope for human consumption. Please do more of him. Daylight/nightlight is an absolute masterpiece. Cycles to gehenna is a heart wrenching story about tempting death
Oxygen has always been a personal fav 😁
100%
Different goals and different strengths, no need to elevate one by chopping the other down
Aesop Rock might just be the most important lyricist in the game. He is the musicians musician.
A little bit to touch base on for the "the stars that align when a forearm starts foreshortening right". Foreshortening in art is the way that we capture the size vs distance in art. For example, a picture of someone reaching towards the viewer would require the artist to use foreshorteninf, making the hand bigger in proportion due to its close proximity. He's basically saying "you can't believe the feeling of elation that you get when you finally create that perfectly accurate illustration". Similarly, the line that talks about flesh "hung on a warping spine starts reading as warm and alive" is a continuation; "you can't believe the elation you feel when you draw a human form that feels real and alive rather than just a drawing"
Exactly. It's a difficult technique to master.
Yeah was going to point this out in my comment as well, but looks like you got it covered. The misunderstanding is understandable given it doesn't seem like he's all that familair with artistic techniques and terminology.
you really nailed this breakdown and caught a whole lot, I really recommend reacting to more of his stuff. His discography is huge. Some of his best writing is daylight/nightlight.
Foreshortening right is also like when you draw an arm that has the hand closer than the body so it gives a 3d type perspective that is much different than if it wasn’t a hand that was just to the side.😊
Subbed. You have one of the best reactions to Aes. Hope you continue to do well bro. Love your work.
EDIT: don’t ever apologise for pausing on an Aes song. It’s what makes your reactions so good.
As soon as I heard run the jewels I knew the guy knew… EL-P is one of the founders of Rhymesayers the record company responsible for some of the best goddamn hip hop I’ve ever heard.. one of the progenitors of independent hip hop, he’s so goddamn underrated and well known at the same time it’s hard to reconcile lol
Also thanks for this booming mix! Wow!
El-P was def jux, atmosphere was rhymesayers.
@@aonutsihasnouith holy hell did I get a messy memory or what lol I just got flipped up over all those EL-P appearances on Aesop records.. thanks for the re-education!
I love the breakdown! Dont feel bad for pausing every few seconds because he really packs a lot into a few lines. I love seeing people take a crack at his songs sometimes he references stuff that i just dont know about and others' inputs add to how i see it. Definitely recommend more from Aesop, anything from this Albums Skelethon, The Impossible Kid, or Spirit World Field Guide are excellent choices
definitely agree with the pauses, the more breakdowns for Aes the better.
I'm really glad you enjoyed breaking this down. I'd watch every Aesop breakdown you do guaranteed. I have plenty of recommendations if you need them!
You did great analyzing the song. I'm a big Aesop fan but I'm also not a native speaker so I love to hear other people's thoughts about his music to better understand his work. I will be looking forward to more of these.
Fil, great breakdown of this poetry ❤🔥. Love, love, love this. The imagery is sublime, extraordinarily and transcendently impressive.
#QcumberSquad #AesopRock - Fil, I'm off back to the study.
You just opened pandora's box my friend. Welcome to 20 years of Aesop to catch up.. Wait till you see his older songs.. GOAT
This is one of the best breakdowns. You're catching nearly everything. Btw, Ungluing is just un-glue-ing, like to remove adhesive from something or separate something into two that was once one.
Please react to more Aesop! I think you'd enjoy "Aesop Rock - Pizza Alley" which is about an Ayahuasca trip in Peru. The way he uses that indirect 'around the bush' language to describe the scenes and settings of Lima, Peru and his journey into the jungle is incredible. It's pretty hard to catch all of it without lyrics pulled up however as some of the references are specific to Peruvian culture.
Thanks man.. appreciate it. I was such an idiot, when I went back to that word it was ungluing... So simple but I was making it out to be something else. 🤦
Brilliant reaction and great job breaking everything down - you grasped the message right away! Aes is a fantastic writer and I truly believe he's unparalleled, easy. He's been around for 25+ years and each era represents a different side of his. He has been dope since day one and hasn't stumbled yet and his discography is flawless.
Wow an outstanding breakdown ..Top Tier ..this was absolutely incredible ..layers here you really did amazing ..an amazing request ..l9ve spending time here thanku so much love an God bless always x always from Cyprus x
I highly, HIGHLY recommend listening to this entire album! Then listening to the rest of his stuff. Amazing lyricist
I've just subscribed in hopes that you do more Aesop Rock! This is by far one of the best Aesop reactions/breakdowns I've seen. You get it. Great work!
Thanks very much. Really appreciate it. 🙂
@@traktician Indeed I am here for the Aesop break downs. You are doing an awesome job.
Aesop was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day.
Still my favorite lyricists of all time, been listening since high school in the late 90s, got to see him live in Chicago years ago.
High praise from someone born on Jupiter
@@j7h7 lol
Man, i just want to thank you for breaking or interpreting this song very well. As non-native speakers it is truly hard to understand what he's trying to communicate with me but you know I'm trying so hard to understand and need more idioms or any talking dolphin to explain to the student like me. Anyway amazing job you do man, thanks a million! Hi from Indonesia!
I always assumed the line "You can't imagine the rush that ensue when you get three dimensions stuffed into two" was about drawing. The three-dimensional world being the one we live in and the two-dimensional world being a sheet of paper. I figured that lyric was about his excitement when he got a drawing to look exactly the way he wanted it.
One thing to remember though is that he will never explain his lyrics. If you met him and asked him about what any given verse meant, he would ask you, "What do YOU think it means?"
It is both at the same time.
A lot of his lines can work three or four different ways.
Literally you put 3 dimensions stuffed into 2 in a drawing.
Listening to an art school dropout doing a lyric video he goes into Art School is "just there to make you a product". < Which is kind of what you pay for... Because most people want to live doing art and that makes you have to interact with capitalism at some point.
Then you have heard the song a dozen times. The juxtaposition of both meanings makes a sin wave of meaning, because it is both at the same time. Aes' Song almost always have extradimensionalty.
Freaking brilliant.
Aesop Rock is so good. He literally has the biggest vocabulary of any rapper ever. And he has a song that's about his cat. I love this dude
This is really about Aes seeing himself as a visual artist for the first 20 years of his life, and going to art school to pursue that passion...and then walking away from drawing and painting, to focus on rapping. It's about how he regrets losing that part of his creative life.
I love his music video for Rogue wave and seeing just how talented he is.
Yes, but like all good art it's about more than that.
Its really not though. He literally said himself that what james said is what this song is about. There is nothing to read between, he is just talking about how he feels he lost his abilities in drawing over the years because he stopped practicing.@@dadaluma13
He still can look at 'Landscape with Snow'. He made the right choice, rapping was his calling.✊🏾
Such a dope breakdown, man. Love what you said throughout it, keep em rolling brother. Great job!
Thanks very much. Really appreciate it. 🙂
"They will chop you down just to count your rings"
"They will destroy what makes you special to quantify your talent"
I've loved your Aesop breakdowns so far. Very insightful and informative, even to someone who has been listening to him for many years.
I think his older stuff is even more of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I'm talking Appleseed/ Float / Labor Days.
But, if I can make a request, it would be from his album None Shall Pass. The song is called Keep Off the Lawn. The entire album is fire but I think this would be a great intro, and, fittingly, it's the opening track
All respect man, you have a great breakdown of what this man's artistry means to all of us. Please do Coffee whenever you can, personal favorite.
Great stuff! Aesop has so many awesome gems he has crafted like this through the decades. I struggle with suggesting just one so here we go, if you want something tough to analyze, check out "Cycles to Gehenna". If you want to start a little 'series' of three songs that is about the death of his friend, Camu Tao, and the spiral that sent him down and his struggle trying to come to terms with it etc, check out "Get out of the car" followed by "Shrunk" followed by "Kirby". If you want to check out something from his newest album, I'd suggest "Flamingo Pink".
Thanks very much for this.. appreciate it... Going to jot these down now.. very keen to do these!
Haven’t finished the reaction yet.. but don’t worry Cycles to Gehenna is going to be my next request haha
So yeah I was thinking of doing Shrunk and Cycles to Gehenna next. Then maybe None Shall Pass or Blood Sandwich. there are so many though, i’ll be sure to request as many as possible. Keep coming back for more!
@@campbellcravens8944 I think Shrunk is best taken in with its companion pieces. Granted, it can be taken as individual songs but the little "trilogy" together is fun!
@@losxdescabezadosYeah okay I agree, I am requesting the full 3 part series
genius..the craziest thing is this is one of his relatively more easily understandable songs lol.
Really impressed with your breakdown man. It took me a few listens to get to what you got from one. Aesop is my favorite rapper. He's a legit poet, he just makes you work a bit to understand his poetry. You cant really understand how brilliant he is unless you take a little bit of time to break stuff down. Definitely gonna check out yoir other breakdowns of Aes.
Highly recommend more Aesop. This is one of his easiest to understand tracks. It gets so deep.
Edit: forgot to mention this is a perfect breakdown. I'd love to see how well you break down some of his other more understandable tracks (like None Shall Pass) or some of his harder to break down tracks (like Jumping Coffin)
Both great songs! I second this.
Epic reaction and review. By far the best I have come across. New sub.
One of my favorite aesop rock songs. ❤
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Small detail, but when he repeats "used to draw," he places a heavy emphasis on "used" the second time, to imply that it's the fact that he once did but doesn't anymore that's difficult for him. I love how with just that little opening line, Aes manages to convey a great deal of meaning.
Also, when he says "off to a school where it's all that you do, being trained and observed by a capable few," seeing as that follows the line about stuffing 3 dimensions into 2, which is essentially what drawing with perspective is, and knowing that he attended an art college, I tend to interpret that as him directly referencing his formal training in drawing at art school. Though I do also like your interpretation, and I think there could be a double meaning there as well, both literally referring to him going to college for art, and also the way that schools condense the world into "2 dimensions," figuratively speaking, by way of their necessarily imposed structure. I know many who go to an art school have the experience of having a damper placed on their creativity when they study it formally. Though I can see how you came to your interpretation because you were thinking of the lyrics as relating to a child rather than an adult in college.
Additionally, when he says "drank Koolaid from a tube of acrylic," he's using a common American English expression. "Drinking the Koolaid" essentially means to buy into something that's not real and implies manipulation from some outside influence. It's a reference to the Jonestown Massacre where a cult leader had over 900 members of his cult drink Koolaid laced with Cyanide and commit suicide en masse after some of the members of the cult shot and murdered a visiting congressman. It's a pretty wild story if you're not familiar with it. But in any case, that's the origin of the expression. Aes is obviously using it in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner here, essentially likening his passion for painting to being in a cult. That along with the way he refers to it as a blooming addiction a few lines prior characterizes his affinity for creating art as something outside of his full control, like it was something he just had to do.
Its funny.... I interpret the song much different in a lot of spots. I was going to tell you where i thought you were wrong, but after some introspection, i think that's the most brilliant thing about aesop (and art in general) is that we can interpret these things differently and it can still be true for all parties. Good video my man ❤
Best reaction ive seen bro 🔥✌🏾
🔥breakdown…if this was truly your first listen through, then im terrified of you 😂
On god... This was genuinely my first listen and I was all over the show with this. The subtitles helped a hell of a lot. 🙂
Awesome reply…its A-Sop Rock (no Enat the end) now do one of mine 😏
You've found where we reside. It's all deep in Aesop's mind.
Aes is such a deep dive. I love this guy
If you chop a tree down and look at the cut surface it has rings as it grows slowly in layers with the seasons, 1 ring is roughly 1 year for most trees. You can tell how old a tree is by ending its life ironically. Thats what he is talking about.
He’s got the biggest vocabulary in rap music
I just commented on Saeed Reacts playlist of Aesop Rock. He is on point but you dig even deeper. I love it.
I would pay to hear you do this kind of breakdown on Deca's music.
You will not be disappointed. He is on a level of his own.
Pretty please, start with "Curiosity Shop" It starts a little abstract then he goes nuclear.
then mammon's mantra, breadcrumbs, crab apples, tuning, blight, skyward, maintain.... its a rabbit hole of back to back to back word play puzzles I am sure you will enjoy. you will appreciate the fact he made all those beats, and the album cover artwork.
What i enjoyed about this aong is that it speaks in terms as a artist but it has a double meaning. " backlight" is a term we use to talk about secondary light but it means more than that.
Aesop is not asap rocky. Though there is a video of them meeting.
Keep going.
Try Dorks, None Shall Pass, Jumping Coffin, Gopher Guts, Water Tower, Bring Back Pluto, 39 Thieves, Pass The Cup, Sick Friend, Kirby, Food Clothes Medicine, Homemade Mummy, Rogue Wave... I could go on.
Also his side project with Rob Sonic, Hail Mary Mallon.
Foreshortening is when something is portrayed as jutting out towards the viewer. Shading and proportioning that is kinda difficult.
And the torso hung on a warping spine line is reference to drawing realistic bodies and it actually looking correct. But your interpretation is valid.
gopher guts and kirby are coming soon
Aesop Rock is the Dark Souls of rap
11:21 nah, he's talking about drawing 3D sht on a piece of paper. Hence the ''rush that ensues'' after such dimensional alchemy.
That being said, you hit the nail on the head with the ''around the bush lyrics''. I've been saying for some time that Aesop is the grandmaster of beating around the bush.
If you’d like to see some of his drawings, check out Rogue Wave. It pans across a whole bunch of his sketches throughout the music video. I don’t think the paintings at the end of the music video belong to him, but he claims the drawings
To me he’s in the morgue not the hospital lol
"They will chop you down just to count your rings..."
Beyond the rings-on-fingers meaning, it also refers to the means of measuring a tree by counting the annual rings of its trunk. The tree can be measured but only by killing it.
"Cowardly kings" probably has a couple meanings, too. It could be a reference to the King of Hearts card, sometimes called the "suicide king" because he's stabbing himself in the head with a knife. It might also refer to Eunus (2nd century BC), a slave who led a slave uprising and who promised a better world for everyone who followed him, but ultimately ended up hiding in a cave until he was captured.
Love seeing someone react to Ian Bavitz for the first time. In my view, he’s the greatest living rapper.
Love this song. Love how you break down the lyrics. I would maybe not pause the actual song quite as much and let it play for longer then go back and do it in segments. It would work better on multiple levels… 1) hold the attention of the viewer. 2) get the whole feel and flow of the song that maybe would make some of the early images make more sense in the full context 3) nothing wrong with listening to it twice!
Thanks for this feedback 🙂
I take the "unseen hand drag in the graphite" as being left handed and dragging my heavy hand
All heart but we would've made cowardly kings is my favorite line in the song. He's saying that it takes a lionheart to pursue your passion in opposition to the world, but by given into your fear, you're the cowardly lion. You go from being King Richard, someone you could've been proud of, to King John, someone you loathe and detest.
Say Aesop rocky one more time.
I know, I know... my bad
I find it hilarious that you have phenomenal insight into the lyrics of this song... You literally taught me a few things about one of my favorite songs... but you totally missed the tree metaphor, "They will chop you down just to count your rings". They don't chop you down for any coherent reason. They chop you down, for numerical research, that you can't understand. They don't even know you're living a life, and trying to be an artist... To them, you're a tree.... What's interesting to them, is how many years you lived... You're a data point.
Good reaction. Wish you would pause less and just react but I'm being nitpicky lol thanks man!
What I will actually do in future is react to it first, let it play out and then do the breakdown. 🙂
IF you would get a dollar for every time you said "that's fire" while going trough Aesops full discography you'd be rich.
💯💯💯😂
The hidden irony in this song is that is having regrets about stopping his art. When in actuality is he is still creating art with words instead of paint and pencil.
A$AP Rocky is also good but Aesop is the GOAT
More aesop
This is the best aesop rock reaction ive ever seen
Thank you
please do Cycles to Gehenna. In my opinion its one of the best rap songs ever written
it’s coming soon!
I wonder if this is regret he is speaking. Unable to live up to the expectations to Lucy? She had no regret. She never had a dream in her life. She just did it remember?
Great breakdown! Love what you did here but it's super duper extra funny to me that your channel name is The FABLE Sphere yet you have absolutely no idea how to pronounce Aesop considering Aesop's FABLES are arguably the most well known FABLES of all time.
😂😂😂 and I said "Rocky" like a moron. 🤦 Don't know why the "rocky" stayed stuck in my head.
Its hard to do an Aesop Rock reaction and breakdown without pausing every few seconds. There are no wasted bars in his music, every single thing he says on wax deserves and demands examination.
A$AP rocky isn’t terrible. But Aesop Rock is on another level.
I think you misinterpreted the "three dimensions stuffed I to two" line he's just talking about the process of taking real life inspirations or subjects and communicating them onto paper with a pencil or other tool
Tugboat Complex Vol.1
Umm. Did you call him ASAP Rocky?
My bad.. don't know why I kept doing that.
It doesn’t look like my comments are going through, hopefully i’m not sending the same thing over and over. Gonna try breaking up into smaller comments.
I think this is your best video to date. INCREDIBLE job. I’m so glad to see you resonated with it so strongly.
Aesop Rock (yes not A$AP Rocky haha) is truly a one of a kind lyricist. He’s so intricate and verbose that it actually puts off alot of casual listeners. His music is for people like you who love to breakdown every single line. I promise every Aes fan will LOVE this video.
Not only does he pack incredible punch lines, but sometimes just the literal word choice feels like a punch line. So often I will have to look up what a word means that he uses, and then once I do the line hits so hard. it’s a feeling no other rapper can illicit.
Once again amazing video Fil, im on my honeymoon in Africa (Kenya not South Africa, but still over in your neck of the woods) and I think i’m gonna rewatch this whole video again now haha. Can’t wait for you to hear more!
ah okay I think it was the link I was trying to send
Just google “Rappers with the Largest Vocabulary” and read the article I think you’ll enjoy it.
It analyzed rappers unique word usage to determine who has the densest vocabulary, and i’m sure you can guess now who won.
@@campbellcravens8944 was it sixnine ?
love the reaction but I gotta push back on the 2d/3d thing. Hes saying just imagine the rush you get from finally being able to make your 2d piece of paper look like theres a 3d object on it. Like finally being able to actually draw something that looks 3 dimensional and the excitement you would get from it. Then, you go to art school and get judged by the professors that are way more talented and capable than you. Just saying, that's what I think at least
Just listen to the song once instead of trying to infer everything line by line. This is just an odd way to consume this kind of music. Line by line comes later...
A$AP rocky is actually really dope. Just in a much different way to Aesop lol
Rock not Rocky
Say the name right bruh
ffs it's aesop as in fables and rock as in rock and roll. not rocky.
ROCK bro ROCK. not rocky.
For a fella giving a reaction, you're awfully quick to pick up each line. Hmmm.
3rd time calling him aesap rokky..... I'm done
Used to draw… hard to admit that I used (drugs) to draw…
ugh Jordan Peterson in the background? You're better than that. Unsubbed.
Cmon man be cool. We all can't be the same, that would suck