Dope review, fellas. Really loved that commentary about Aes’ relentless embodying of hip-hop culture. One of my favourite things about his music - the slang, the sounds, the interpolations. Always sounds like some raw, unapologetic hip-hop shit.
It's weird he's one of the only cats making progressive avant garde experiment abstract (whatever you wanna call it) hip-hop shit but still brings in the elements. He's really one of only ones doing that and making it dope.
Aesop Rocks raps have kept me motivated as a visual artist since at least 2007 that I can think of, maybe 2006. I always look forward to hearing anything by him or his friends for that matter. That whole scene of weird NYC rappers is banging
People sleep on Aes, because they can't even fathom of taking Rap/HipHop to level that he has. He's so far out in Left-Field, they can't even see him in the game.. Doesn't mean he's not the BEST to ever do it.
there was an article on new website aftermath about aesop rock and it made me wanna check out ITS, having not listened to much of aesop rock before my first impressions are that i really liked it! i should listen to more of aesop rock and more of this genre in general
Please do!! A lot of people say “None Shall Pass” is a great place to start bcuz he really came into his own (production wise) and it’s a really incredible complete project, but go back a little further and get into Labor Days, Float, Bazooka Tooth etc His Def Jux years were incredible, and having El-P involved really helped him and if I had to guess he really mentored him on many different levels … just a feeling I get. 🤷 P.S. these guys are write about his prose 😉 Ex: “No Regrets” on Labor Days rivals Slick Rick level storytelling. Bet!
I think the problem for most people is that Aes’ songs often require significant thought to understand. You have to spend time with repeated listens and careful consideration before you get the payoff. I’ve only been listening since for maybe 5 years and rap has not historically been a main focus for me. I’ve always held an interest and have gone through phases where I’ve listened to specific artists with some consistency, but my favorite genres were always alternative/grunge, rock, metal, and classic rock, with artist like Ray LaMontagne and Norah Jones heavily mixed in. Since hearing “Shrunk” on my way into Boston to see Hozier, I’ve spent the majority of my time immersed in rap specifically because Aesop Rock has a massive body of work full of music that, to me, is deeply rewarding. Lyricism and writing in general, be it poetry, songs, or fiction, has been an important part of my life since I learned to read in the 70s. Through lyricism, he has become my favorite artist of any genre. I think his subject matter is always interesting and his beats are very much rooted in hip hop, but contain the kind of musical sensibilities you find more frequently in the genres I mentioned earlier. I think his writing is as good as anyone’s and that he’s easily the best storyteller in the game. Ruby ‘81 is a masterclass in using simple instrumentation to slowly build massive tension in line with what the story deserves and only releases you when the story itself does. It makes the hair on my arms stand up every time. I could go on, but I’m only 4:20 in so I’m going to finish the video before I comment further. Lol
I love Spirit World Field Guide... but the mic eq still throws me off. For me it's the only blemish on that album, and I started to think I was crazy because no one else seemed to mention it. I'm glad I'm not alone on this one ahah Great review of this latest one, gonna be tuning in more often. Subscribed!
I love to hear these thoughful perspectives, that go beyond the tedious vocab supremacy argument, also between a big fan and someone less so. You bring up a lot of interesting points. I think Aesop is one the most singularly brilliant artists in hip hop but he's often brilliant in a way that isn't (or wasn't for a long time) necessarily afforded to rappers in general. He carved out a lane for himself that has allowed him greater artistic freedom than many of his contemporaries and mastered a style that could be quite unruly in the early years. He's technically as good as the best but his commitment to his personal artistic perspective is perhaps what sets him apart. He created it himself and deserves the credit but he was perhaps helped by having a background (not least his art education) that meant he wasn't necessarily tied to the same expectations that audiences have (or rather had) for rappers in general. He is my favourite rapper but I get tired of seeing him used as a stick to beat other rappers with. I love the point about him being immersed in hip hop tradition because it's so true and yet other aspects of his style feel like a juxtaposition. For instance the word density, the often academic language and "high art" (yes high/low is bullshit) literary references diverge from many of the easily communicative aspects of early hip hop. And yet somehow he makes it all work together. cheers.
The vocab supremacy topic bothers me immensely man, go off. The thing I have MOSTY grasped about Aes as an artist, is that a lot of the point in the verbosity is to push you OUT of that mode of thinking where you are analyzing the words themselves. They are ever shifting mosaics. His music actively seeks to push your thinking side over the edge so that all you are left with is the feeling of his expression in his lyrics. I think sometimes, especially earlier on, many of his lines had a meaning for him, that he did not want to have understood in a direct way. Not out of a chip on the shoulder but "It is enough for you to accept that you don't understand what or why, here is how I feel." I'm thoroughly convinced that the reason he reaches for so many esoteric references is because it is an expression of what he is into and how he processes things. It's not to put himself out ahead of people, I think you can only continually do that because this is how you think and process things. He's not relating to you is all. He's showing you what he relates to, because he often feels isolated in the way that he exists as a person. It's a window into the mind of a pseudo-agoraphobic with a mind for and deep interest in many things. There is an imprint of a whole person in how he spins his words, what he chooses to show more realistically, and what he drapes in his ever-expanding world of words. The thing that makes him valuable as an artist, is the way that he wields his expression, not the amount of words he packs in. So many people I feel are missing the forest for the trees in his music. They are both making more out of it than what it is and missing the actual iceberg below the waterline. They don't appreciate that this is what it looks like when an artist is uncompromising on their expression, and delves REALLY far in there. And then people think it's like an edge he casts, to show off and assert superiority. Rather than a guy who's just extraordinarily deep in his shit, who chose honing HIS communication over honing the communication people expect and measure. I think the reason I personally respect him as an artist is because I see him as someone who basically designed his own form of artistic communication by a commitment to sit with and exercise his demons. On the scale of artistic merit, he is UP there. But to compare him to others on the basis of his technical prowess does him a great disservice, and I don't think speaks at all to what the man has been trying to do with his music for a very long time. Hell, I'd argue the most cohesive thing you CAN take away from his music, is that he probably isn't a huge fan of those comparisons either. I mean, imagine you dedicate decades of you life to honing a linguistic craft built to tabulate your complex inner world and feelings about the world around you, put it all in to this carefully-crafted and endlessly-dense experience, only to be reduced to the vocab guy. It's a fucking insult, I swear. Again, too much, yet not enough credit to the man. His greatest strength, that I think very few artists manage on his level, or even above (industry-wise) is how much of what he creates is just HIM.
I’m an Aesop fan for this reason. I have way more in common with him than I do with other rappers. Listen to him on This Is Not A Wizard. He’s spitting a worldview that resonates more completely with me than anyone else I’ve heard. The rawness of Marble Cake hit me between the eyes. The vulnerability of Gopher Guts spoke to my soul. Rings touches on my own struggles with artistic endeavour. Grace reminds me of childhood refusals to eat stuff I didn’t like. Jazz Hands has a pathos that is utterly relatable. The man is a word-painter as much as a rapper. Sure, there’s deep metaphor, there’s deep cuts, but so far as I can see sometimes people miss the poetry for the words. Watch the pictures he creates, they’re worth staring at. That’s why I keep coming back to him. It’s just so real, and I get it when it comes from him.
By The River is a perfect reflection of Aesop's coming of age. I've listened to Aes since early 2000s and my younger self would have not felt something like that but as I reach my 40s I find that I like rivers too.
I think he set out to do it as a concept album, but changed direction partway through. And I think Pigionometry touches on this by talking about getting excited about an idea before sizing up the job.
The Def jux era had dope emcees .. Aesop is a top 20 emcee that black underground cats that don't fuk with him . Same with El-P . They're the 2 best white emcees ever in my opinion .
I definitely got a complete list of favorite white guy emcees. So many. To the point that it feels the biggest distinction isnt race, it's proximity to participatory hip-hop culture. A few years back I heard Joe Budden rank his top five battle emcees and Eyedea was on the list. If you were there, you know. El-P is a legend. More so than Killer Mike imo. Two of the best ever.
@@secretHOUSEagainst VERY well put … can’t get over Budden biggin’ up Eyedea like that (RIP Mikey 🔥) and almost gives me a new respect for him. He’s a hard one to love, but I still do. Your insight on the Def Jux stuff is appreciated cuz that was a pivotal era for me in hip hop and just fell in love with Aesop, El-Producto (in all his respective arenas) , Camu of course 🙏, and even went on a long Cage run too! Appreciate y’all effort on this vid btw, and please keep it up! Really dug the perspectives, and I feel like y’all got a lot to offer us old heads & hip hop “purists” 😂
I loved this review. As someone who has no friends that listen to Aesop, i finally felt heard watching this video. I felt like i was in the room with you guys talking about one of my favorite artists of all time.
I honestly believe this is one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. It's cerebral, it's culturally relevant and insightful, and oh my god he's got bars. I can't even pick a favorite line.
Nah but that was right around the same time I think. The one I was talking about was the 10 minute Flex freestyle. It's basically entered the casual canon as the greatest freestyle of all-time. Definitely amazing but I also just be on some "fuckin pop culture" hate shit.
@@secretHOUSEagainst I'll check that out. I hear ya on the pop thing.. it sucks to see someone so prolific reduced to one appearance. Especially when that becomes bigger than all their other works
i think the album isnt intrinsically a full concept, but each song in itself are strong concepts. It seems more like a social commentary of an old dude living in a new era
I think if you squint your brain hard enough, you can find the common theme. Like it says on mindful solutionism, everything is technology. Like Infinity goose - social engineering Kyanite toothpick - architecture and moving about it Pigeonometry - drawing n shit Plus all the food bits. But again, you gotta struggle to find the meaning, much like his songs. Consistently inconsistent with the clarity this guy. Edit: wrote this before you got into it, sorry
When fans want to listen to something other than gang banging, pimpin, and hustling I find it disgusting. Especially if the artists they like happen to be white.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Dope review, fellas.
Really loved that commentary about Aes’ relentless embodying of hip-hop culture. One of my favourite things about his music - the slang, the sounds, the interpolations.
Always sounds like some raw, unapologetic hip-hop shit.
It's weird he's one of the only cats making progressive avant garde experiment abstract (whatever you wanna call it) hip-hop shit but still brings in the elements. He's really one of only ones doing that and making it dope.
Aesop Rocks raps have kept me motivated as a visual artist since at least 2007 that I can think of, maybe 2006. I always look forward to hearing anything by him or his friends for that matter. That whole scene of weird NYC rappers is banging
People sleep on Aes, because they can't even fathom of taking Rap/HipHop to level that he has. He's so far out in Left-Field, they can't even see him in the game.. Doesn't mean he's not the BEST to ever do it.
I just wanna say y'all are the best review channel for underground hip hop.
You thank you fam! Much appreciated!! Glad to see you in the comments! - Mega
there was an article on new website aftermath about aesop rock and it made me wanna check out ITS, having not listened to much of aesop rock before
my first impressions are that i really liked it! i should listen to more of aesop rock and more of this genre in general
Please do!! A lot of people say “None Shall Pass” is a great place to start bcuz he really came into his own (production wise) and it’s a really incredible complete project, but go back a little further and get into Labor Days, Float, Bazooka Tooth etc
His Def Jux years were incredible, and having El-P involved really helped him and if I had to guess he really mentored him on many different levels … just a feeling I get. 🤷
P.S. these guys are write about his prose 😉
Ex: “No Regrets” on Labor Days rivals Slick Rick level storytelling. Bet!
I think the problem for most people is that Aes’ songs often require significant thought to understand. You have to spend time with repeated listens and careful consideration before you get the payoff. I’ve only been listening since for maybe 5 years and rap has not historically been a main focus for me. I’ve always held an interest and have gone through phases where I’ve listened to specific artists with some consistency, but my favorite genres were always alternative/grunge, rock, metal, and classic rock, with artist like Ray LaMontagne and Norah Jones heavily mixed in. Since hearing “Shrunk” on my way into Boston to see Hozier, I’ve spent the majority of my time immersed in rap specifically because Aesop Rock has a massive body of work full of music that, to me, is deeply rewarding. Lyricism and writing in general, be it poetry, songs, or fiction, has been an important part of my life since I learned to read in the 70s. Through lyricism, he has become my favorite artist of any genre. I think his subject matter is always interesting and his beats are very much rooted in hip hop, but contain the kind of musical sensibilities you find more frequently in the genres I mentioned earlier. I think his writing is as good as anyone’s and that he’s easily the best storyteller in the game. Ruby ‘81 is a masterclass in using simple instrumentation to slowly build massive tension in line with what the story deserves and only releases you when the story itself does. It makes the hair on my arms stand up every time. I could go on, but I’m only 4:20 in so I’m going to finish the video before I comment further. Lol
I love Spirit World Field Guide... but the mic eq still throws me off. For me it's the only blemish on that album, and I started to think I was crazy because no one else seemed to mention it. I'm glad I'm not alone on this one ahah Great review of this latest one, gonna be tuning in more often. Subscribed!
Aesop just keeps getting better. Every album gets tighter. Beats evolve, subjects are fully distilled.
I love to hear these thoughful perspectives, that go beyond the tedious vocab supremacy argument, also between a big fan and someone less so. You bring up a lot of interesting points.
I think Aesop is one the most singularly brilliant artists in hip hop but he's often brilliant in a way that isn't (or wasn't for a long time) necessarily afforded to rappers in general. He carved out a lane for himself that has allowed him greater artistic freedom than many of his contemporaries and mastered a style that could be quite unruly in the early years. He's technically as good as the best but his commitment to his personal artistic perspective is perhaps what sets him apart. He created it himself and deserves the credit but he was perhaps helped by having a background (not least his art education) that meant he wasn't necessarily tied to the same expectations that audiences have (or rather had) for rappers in general. He is my favourite rapper but I get tired of seeing him used as a stick to beat other rappers with.
I love the point about him being immersed in hip hop tradition because it's so true and yet other aspects of his style feel like a juxtaposition. For instance the word density, the often academic language and "high art" (yes high/low is bullshit) literary references diverge from many of the easily communicative aspects of early hip hop. And yet somehow he makes it all work together.
cheers.
read this comment to Meg while we were chilling yesterday and he got so hyped lmao. gonna have to respond properly to this one on the show 🙏🏽
The vocab supremacy topic bothers me immensely man, go off.
The thing I have MOSTY grasped about Aes as an artist, is that a lot of the point in the verbosity is to push you OUT of that mode of thinking where you are analyzing the words themselves. They are ever shifting mosaics. His music actively seeks to push your thinking side over the edge so that all you are left with is the feeling of his expression in his lyrics. I think sometimes, especially earlier on, many of his lines had a meaning for him, that he did not want to have understood in a direct way. Not out of a chip on the shoulder but "It is enough for you to accept that you don't understand what or why, here is how I feel." I'm thoroughly convinced that the reason he reaches for so many esoteric references is because it is an expression of what he is into and how he processes things. It's not to put himself out ahead of people, I think you can only continually do that because this is how you think and process things. He's not relating to you is all. He's showing you what he relates to, because he often feels isolated in the way that he exists as a person. It's a window into the mind of a pseudo-agoraphobic with a mind for and deep interest in many things. There is an imprint of a whole person in how he spins his words, what he chooses to show more realistically, and what he drapes in his ever-expanding world of words.
The thing that makes him valuable as an artist, is the way that he wields his expression, not the amount of words he packs in. So many people I feel are missing the forest for the trees in his music. They are both making more out of it than what it is and missing the actual iceberg below the waterline. They don't appreciate that this is what it looks like when an artist is uncompromising on their expression, and delves REALLY far in there. And then people think it's like an edge he casts, to show off and assert superiority. Rather than a guy who's just extraordinarily deep in his shit, who chose honing HIS communication over honing the communication people expect and measure.
I think the reason I personally respect him as an artist is because I see him as someone who basically designed his own form of artistic communication by a commitment to sit with and exercise his demons. On the scale of artistic merit, he is UP there. But to compare him to others on the basis of his technical prowess does him a great disservice, and I don't think speaks at all to what the man has been trying to do with his music for a very long time. Hell, I'd argue the most cohesive thing you CAN take away from his music, is that he probably isn't a huge fan of those comparisons either.
I mean, imagine you dedicate decades of you life to honing a linguistic craft built to tabulate your complex inner world and feelings about the world around you, put it all in to this carefully-crafted and endlessly-dense experience, only to be reduced to the vocab guy. It's a fucking insult, I swear. Again, too much, yet not enough credit to the man. His greatest strength, that I think very few artists manage on his level, or even above (industry-wise) is how much of what he creates is just HIM.
I’m an Aesop fan for this reason.
I have way more in common with him than I do with other rappers.
Listen to him on This Is Not A Wizard. He’s spitting a worldview that resonates more completely with me than anyone else I’ve heard. The rawness of Marble Cake hit me between the eyes. The vulnerability of Gopher Guts spoke to my soul. Rings touches on my own struggles with artistic endeavour. Grace reminds me of childhood refusals to eat stuff I didn’t like. Jazz Hands has a pathos that is utterly relatable.
The man is a word-painter as much as a rapper. Sure, there’s deep metaphor, there’s deep cuts, but so far as I can see sometimes people miss the poetry for the words. Watch the pictures he creates, they’re worth staring at.
That’s why I keep coming back to him. It’s just so real, and I get it when it comes from him.
Wolf Piss & Oh Fudge, for me, (also the ones you mention)
By The River is a perfect reflection of Aesop's coming of age. I've listened to Aes since early 2000s and my younger self would have not felt something like that but as I reach my 40s I find that I like rivers too.
You’re on that Brutalist.
Low key... Brualist/ brutalesque is my clothing company that only exists for me right now.
Goat of goats, black snow is my favorite song of all time. Probably favorite peace of art in general.
I think he set out to do it as a concept album, but changed direction partway through. And I think Pigionometry touches on this by talking about getting excited about an idea before sizing up the job.
The Def jux era had dope emcees .. Aesop is a top 20 emcee that black underground cats that don't fuk with him . Same with El-P . They're the 2 best white emcees ever in my opinion .
I definitely got a complete list of favorite white guy emcees. So many. To the point that it feels the biggest distinction isnt race, it's proximity to participatory hip-hop culture. A few years back I heard Joe Budden rank his top five battle emcees and Eyedea was on the list. If you were there, you know. El-P is a legend. More so than Killer Mike imo. Two of the best ever.
@@secretHOUSEagainst
VERY well put … can’t get over Budden biggin’ up Eyedea like that (RIP Mikey 🔥) and almost gives me a new respect for him. He’s a hard one to love, but I still do. Your insight on the Def Jux stuff is appreciated cuz that was a pivotal era for me in hip hop and just fell in love with Aesop, El-Producto (in all his respective arenas) , Camu of course 🙏, and even went on a long Cage run too! Appreciate y’all effort on this vid btw, and please keep it up! Really dug the perspectives, and I feel like y’all got a lot to offer us old heads & hip hop “purists” 😂
hell ya
aesop may be my favorite hip hop artist, right up there with heems & jpegmafia
I loved this review. As someone who has no friends that listen to Aesop, i finally felt heard watching this video. I felt like i was in the room with you guys talking about one of my favorite artists of all time.
Been a Aesop rock fan since hitting the loop in a civic back in the 808. I’m a commercial dweller now 😂
This was great thank you...
There's a distinct lack of conversation about Aesop/any actual good artists.
Cause they ALL know no one can touch him.. No contest.
Love the content, the last homeboy sandman video brought me here.
I honestly believe this is one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.
It's cerebral, it's culturally relevant and insightful, and oh my god he's got bars.
I can't even pick a favorite line.
Bro on the left knows his shit. Great breakdown
you cant really get what you get from Aesop Rock from anyone else, he's really a one of a kind rapper
Talking about Black Thought's freestyle with Method Man? That was the first time I was able to enjoy and appreciate his rhymes
Nah but that was right around the same time I think. The one I was talking about was the 10 minute Flex freestyle. It's basically entered the casual canon as the greatest freestyle of all-time. Definitely amazing but I also just be on some "fuckin pop culture" hate shit.
@@secretHOUSEagainst I'll check that out. I hear ya on the pop thing.. it sucks to see someone so prolific reduced to one appearance. Especially when that becomes bigger than all their other works
i think the album isnt intrinsically a full concept, but each song in itself are strong concepts. It seems more like a social commentary of an old dude living in a new era
but thats the great thing about aes, hes a true artist and leaves somethings up to interpretation
Agreed. Thanks for your thoughts. Aes is incredible on some many levels.
I think if you squint your brain hard enough, you can find the common theme. Like it says on mindful solutionism, everything is technology. Like
Infinity goose - social engineering
Kyanite toothpick - architecture and moving about it
Pigeonometry - drawing n shit
Plus all the food bits.
But again, you gotta struggle to find the meaning, much like his songs. Consistently inconsistent with the clarity this guy.
Edit: wrote this before you got into it, sorry
Would you review “Elsa Belvedere” by Freddolo
Been on that czarface also!
I like Robin Williams hugging teens in English class and telling them to be poets. So I like vocabulary.
Don't kill yourself.
🔥🔥🔥
Not interested in the video but liking and commenting simply cause of the title
Mega - I agree with the Black Thought comment.
Aesop Rock is #1😊
Dope album 👍
Yo check out Blockhead knew album
dope features
When fans want to listen to something other than gang banging, pimpin, and hustling I find it disgusting. Especially if the artists they like happen to be white.