:: Buy Now: $16.98
:: Details
Lazybones critics are overly fond of referring to Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst as the new Dylan, but the gravelly old timer's heir apparent is more likely Aesop Rock, hip-hop's most complex and literary lyricist. The deep-voiced Brooklyn emcee's already dropped a brilliant working class concept album, 2001's Labor Days, as well as a surrealistic, super-dense, apocalyptic caveman carnival freak show, 2003's Bazooka Tooth. Showcasing his syllables, the first 20,000 copies of the spitter's newest collection, the seven-song Fast Cars, Danger, Fire And Knives EP, comes with a jam-packed 80-page lyric book spanning Aesop's complete output. Read straight through, the libretto's a revelation, raising the bar for facile emcees that can't move beyond lazily embarrassing bitches/hoes/ganstas bullshit. For instance, the randomly picked "Put one up for shackle-me-not clean logic procreation / I did not invent the wheel I was the crooked spoke adjacent / While the triple sixers lassos keep angels roped in the basement / I walk the block with a halo on a stick poking your patience," from 2001's "Daylight," should make any number of Rocawear-ing no-hangs take a vow of silence. While not his best, the tracks feature tight, playful Shaft/"Jam On It"-style choruses, glittery/oblique one/two/three-liners ("Mud pie cruiser with an oink for the innocent / I blame it on the ambiguous quote/unquote system") and crystalline Blockhead production. Some tired porn samples momentarily weigh things down with mainstream rap cliché, but regardless, if there's any hip-hop justice, it's only a matter of time before Aesop Rock becomes a smarty-pants household name.
Subscribe to Feed
