Aesop Rock, a rapper known for his poetic lyrics, will be playing at Little Brother’s Saturday as part of his spring tour to promote his latest EP, “Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives.”
The Aesop Rock Spring Tour lineup includes fellow label artists from Definitive Juxies, Mr. Lif and Hangar 18 along with guests DJ Big Wiz and Metro.
His last show in Columbus sold out.
“Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives,” will not pimp your ride, but Rock’s brilliance and lyrics will keep listeners entertained.
This New York City artist’s style lends to his ability to meld extremely thoughtful and complex lyrics with beats, going off-beat to back on track without batting an eye.
Aesop Rock is not the typical jiggy, yo-yo rapper that is stereotyped on television music channels. His songs are an introspection of things he has experienced, and the words seem to be written more by a laureate than a half dollar street thug which seems to be what is popular at the moment. The pop culture references and lexicon Aesop Rock possesses make him a prosaic maven.
Fans will continue to appreciate the work Aesop Rock put into his latest project. The sound is still Aesop Rock, but more upbeat. Listeners will find themselves nodding to the beat and shaking their heads in disbelief at the complexity of his lyrics. The beats for each track are more up-tempo and less gritty than past releases. The verses remain strong prose-wise, and will surprise the casual listener with the profoundness of the artist.
Another bonus is the lyric book included with the first 20,000 copies of the EP. The book, entitled “The Living Human Curiosity Sideshow,” contains a complete collection of lyrics to Aesop’s released songs. The book alone is worth the price of the EP.
On “Holy Smokes,” the fourth track on his latest EP, he raps about being forced into Catholicism and how the farce of certain church officials turned him off to religion. “Just a little bruised in the back of the pews, acting amused with a mask on them Vatican blues, for in the eyes of the organization I was raised in, Aes is just another sinning brick in hell’s basement,” rhymes Aesop Rock.
Other tracks are equally compelling, but a word of warning: This is not the type of rap you will hear in a club. The bass lines do not lend themselves to dancing, and the complex verbal styling is for listening and thinking about. If you are looking for intelligent rap as opposed to music to grind to, then this is the artist to check out.
