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Aesop Rock

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Aesop Rock
Ian Matthias Bavitz (born June 5, 1976), better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American hip hop recording artist and producer residing in Portland, Oregon. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip hop acts that emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was signed to El-P's Definitive Jux label until it went on hiatus in 2010. betterPropaganda ranked him at number 19 at the Top 100 Artists of the Decade. He is a member of the groups The Weathermen, Hail Mary Mallon (with Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz), The Uncluded (with Kimya Dawson) Two of Every Animal (with Cage), and Malibu Ken with electronic artist Tobacco. Regarding his name, he said: "I acquired the name Aesop from a movie I had acted in with some friends. It was my character's name and it sort of stuck. The rock part came later just from throwing it in rhymes."
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Born
1976-06-05
Birth Place
Syosset, New York, U.S.
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treblezine.com

Aesop Rock x Blockhead : Garbology

It can’t be easy for an emcee like Aesop Rock to find a perfect foil. He’s an enigmatic wordsmith whose helical surrealism packs layers of meaning beneath puns and clever turns of phrase faster than most of us can properly process it. And though he’s worked with his share of beatmakers through the years—El-P lending his sci-fi boom bap sound to a handful of tracks during Aesop’s Def Jux years, acid mastermind Tobacco on the psychedelic wormhole trip of Malibu Ken—his most prolific collaborator is himself. After all, who knows best how to musically contextualize a creative mind like Aesop Rock’s than, well, Aesop Rock?
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The FADER

Aesop Rock and Blockhead share new video for “Flamingo Pink”

Aesop Rock and Blockhead have shared a music video for "Flamingo Pink," a track from their new album, Garbology, which dropped Friday, November 12 on Rhymesayers. "Flamingo Pink" finds Aesop rapping a titch slower than his usual breakneck pace over Blockhead's ominous, low-octave piano beat. The video flits between scenes of Aesop rapping in shadow on a grimy, once-white wall and shots of a heroin-chic twenty-something walking down trash-strewn streets, loading items of interest into a shapeless shoulder bag. He later tacks these tchotchkes to a whiteboard and strings them together like a detective would. As he studies the garbage, the album's title locks explicitly into focus.
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Stereogum

Aesop Rock Is Unstuck In Time

Aesop Rock first rapped over a Blockhead beat 24 years ago. At least, that was the first time that Aesop Rock rapped over a Blockhead beat on record. The Long Island rapper and the Manhattan beatmaker had become friends a few years earlier at Boston University. By the time Aesop self-released his 1997 debut album Music For Earthworms, Blockhead had already dropped out of college, though Aesop was still there. (He’d graduate a year later.) When Aesop made Music For Earthworms, he hadn’t yet become a name on the underground rap scene, and that underground rap scene — Stretch & Bobbito freestyles, 12″ singles sold at Fat Beats — wasn’t anywhere near as big as it would become a few years later. Aesop produced most of that album himself, but on the song “Plastic Soldiers,” he applied his darting, word-drunk flow to Blockhead’s mournfully stuttering violin loop.
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liveforlivemusic.com

Aesop Rock, Blockhead Release First Collab Album, ‘Garbology’ [Listen]

Aesop Rock and Blockhead have released their collaborative album, Garbology, out now via Rhymesayers Entertainment. Garbology marks the first time Rock has worked with his longtime musical ally on a full album, despite single-song collaborations dating back to the late ’90s. Rock and Blockhead previewed the album back in October...
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riffmagazine.com

REVIEW: Aesop Rock and Blockhead reunite in refuse on ‘Garbology’

After spending the last year away from others, perhaps we all got a glimpse into the isolation and madness that colors the mind of hip-hop hermit Aesop Rock. Like everyone else, Aesop also had a rough year, between the death of a close friend and a creative dry spell. But along the way, he partnered with long-time collaborator Blockhead, who had some beats for Aesop to rap over. This spur of the moment push for creative output evolved into an album; the first in Aesop’s discography to be completely produced by Blockhead—Garbology.
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earmilk.com

Aesop Rock and Blockhead reunite to cerebral effect on new song and video "Jazz Hands"

Aesop Rock and Blockhead have proven themselves a creative powerhouse of a union countless times over the past two decades, yielding many underground classics and driving Vans and Jansports sales through the roof. While Blockhead has featured heavily on some of Aesop Rock’s most lauded albums, the duo has never made a full length LP together. The upcoming album Garbology is set to fix this unthinkable injustice, and we have been blessed with a preview of the main event in the form of new song and music video “Jazz Hands”. If this is a good indication of what we can expect from Garbology, it looks like there will be an abundance of mystical explorations of loss and the human condition, told through dense, intricate lyricism. As they say on TikTok, I’m here for it.
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liveforlivemusic.com

Aesop Rock, Blockhead Preview ‘Garbology’ Album Collab With First Single, “Jazz Hands” [Listen/Watch]

Aesop Rock and his longtime musical ally, Blockhead, have announced a new collaborative album, Garbology, due on out November 12th via Rhymesayers Entertainment. In celebration of the announcement, Aesop Rock and Blockhead have shared a music video and audio for the album’s first single, “Jazz Hands”. Aesop Rock and Blockhead’s...
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Pitchfork

Aesop Rock and Blockhead Announce New Album, Share New Video: Watch

Aesop Rock and Blockhead have announced their new collaborative album Garbology with a video for its first single “Jazz Hands.” Check out the Rob Shaw–directed clip below. Garbology is due out November 12 via Rhymesayers. In the 2000s, Blockhead produced Aesop Rock’s “Daylight” and “None Shall Pass,” but Garbology is...
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treblezine.com

Aesop Rock and Blockhead announce new album, Garbology

Aesop Rock has announced a new collaborative album with Blockhead, titled Garbology, out November 12 via Rhymesayers. The duo have worked together in the past on songs such as “None Shall Pass” and “Daylight,” but this marks their first full-length record together, which came together in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The first single is titled “Jazz Hands,” which you can hear below.
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liveforlivemusic.com

Atmosphere Releases New Album, ‘WORD?’, Music Video For “Bardcade”, Featuring MF DOOM, Aesop Rock [Listen/Watch]

On Friday, October 8th the Minneapolis hip-hop duo Atmosphere released their latest studio album, WORD? The album arrived via Rhymesayers Entertainment, the label co-owned by Atmosphere’s own Slug (Sean Daley) and Ant (Anthony Davis). Along with the album’s release, Atmosphere also shared a music video for the album’s 14th and...
VIDEO GAMES
Pitchfork

Atmosphere Share New Song With MF Doom and Aesop Rock: Listen

Atmosphere have shared a new track titled “Barcade.” In addition to Aesop Rock, the single features a posthumous verse from MF Doom. Watch the video for the single below. “Barcade” appears on Atmosphere’s newest album Word?, which follows last year’s The Day Before Halloween. After the announcement of MF Doom’s death late last year, Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman re-worked the instrumental from Doom’s “Datura Stramonium” into a tribute track of their own titled “Ask Anyone.” Several other recent projects have featured posthumous Doom appearances, including work from IDK, Your Old Droog, and the Avalanches, plus the Czarface collaboration Super What?
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UproxxPublisher

Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, And MF DOOM’s ‘Barcade’ Video Brings Video Game Vibes

New MF DOOM music continues to pop up nearly a year after his death last Halloween at the age of 49. The latest comes on Atmosphere’s new single “Barcade” from the Minnesota underground rap duo’s new album Word? which dropped today. Joined by Aesop Rock, the song constitutes a spiritual successor to the Molemen’s 2001 song “Put Your Quarters Up,” which also features Aesop, DOOM, and Slug trading bars about video games. “Barcade” continues in that vein, along with its suitably spaced-out video, which features arcade game visuals inspired by games like Gradius, Metroid, and Space Ace.
VIDEO GAMES
earmilk.com

Homeboy Sandman and Aesop Rock team up for "Lice Team Baby"

As veteran emcee Homeboy Sandman and Aesop Rock prepare to drop their collaborative EP Anjelitu, the duo share this new single "Lice Team Baby" for us to dine on while we wait for the main dish. The track is the last track on the upcoming 6-track project and is a display of Sandman's unbridled flow and graphic lyrical schemes that ebb and flows like the tide. Aesop Rock is not far behind and grapples the somber piano-driven beat with his gruff vocals and undeniable presence. The production is pretty solid too and the keys used here remind me of Nas's "NY State Of Mind."
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Stereogum

Homeboy Sandman – “Lice Team, Baby” (Feat. Aesop Rock)

Back in 2015, the indie rap lifers Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman got together to release a collaborative free-download EP called Lice. It was a lot of fun, and the two rappers have gotten together to make a bunch more music since then. Two more Lice EPs followed; the most recent of them, Triple Fat Lice, came out in 2017. Earlier this year, Aesop and Sandman got back together to eulogize MF DOOM on “Ask Anyone.” And now Aesop Rock has fucked around and produced a whole EP for Homeboy Sandman.
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Stereogum

Homeboy Sandman – “No Beef” (Feat. Aesop Rock)

Last year, the disarmingly filter-free Queens underground rapper Homeboy Sandman came out with Don’t Feed The Monster, an album produced entirely by Quelle Chris. Next month, Sandman will team up with another producer for another project. This time around, it’s an EP called Anjelitu, and the producer is Sandman’s frequent collaborator Aesop Rock, who’s coming off his own great 2020 album Spirit World Field Guide. We’ve already posted first single “Go Hard.” Today, Sandman has shared another new one called “No Beef,” and it’s not about what you’re thinking.
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Stereogum

Homeboy Sandman – “Go Hard” (Prod. Aesop Rock)

Underground rap lifers Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman seem to really like working with each other. They’ve done it a bunch of times over the years. For a while, Aesop and Sandman made a series of EPs under the duo name Lice; the last of them, Triple Fat Lice, came out in 2017. Earlier this year, the two rappers paid tribute to the late MF DOOM on the heartwarming track “Ask Anyone.” And now, Aesop and Sandman are once again getting together to release a new EP called Angelitu. Sandman does the raps, and Aesop does the beats.
ENTERTAINMENT
opb.org

Aesop Rock - “Long Legged Larry”

Fresh off the heels of releasing his “Spirit World Field Guide” LP, Aesop Rock has returned with a light-hearted single about a bearded bullfrog superhero recorded in celebration of World Frog Day (which does in fact exist). The rapper’s use of the classic 1980s story-telling rap style is utterly flawless here. He described Larry the frog in a press release as an “altruistic and well-abled frog, who hops from place to place looking to help ease folks’ troubles.” The story is brilliantly depicted in a stop-motion music video made in collaboration with artist and animator Jeremy Fish.
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earmilk.com

Aesop Rock drops the fancy words and makes with the frog escapades in "Long Legged Larry"

The prolifically verbose Aesop Rock likes to lower his lofty ambitions and get goofy sometimes, just to show he’s not the po-faced dictionary-sniffer he is commonly perceived as. After his light-hearted club banger “Take a Titty Out”, his latest happy-go-lucky offering, “Long Legged Larry”, focuses on the heroic exploits of a frog, the titular Larry, who may or may not be based on a real frog. In honour of American National Frog day, naturally. After last year’s critically lauded, shamanistic Spirit World Field Guide album and the recent tribute with Homeboy Sandman to the dearly departed MF DOOM, a little levity was probably needed for Ace Rizzle’s mental wellbeing.
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Stereogum

Aesop Rock – “Long Legged Larry”

Last year, longtime rap traveler Aesop Rock released his psychedelic, head-spun self-produced LP Spirit World Field Guide, and it was one of my favorite rap albums of last year. A couple of months ago, Aesop and frequent collaborator Homeboy Sandman came out with “Ask Anyone,” their salute to the late MF DOOM. And today, Aesop Rock has returned to celebrate National Frog Day. (That’s a thing. It’s today.)
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