I guess Aesop Rock put on a free show at McCarren Park in Williamsburg yesterday - and I missed it. Good looks to Def Jux for posting a couple videos. Above is Aes performing Labor from “Labor Days,” and after the break is Coffee from “None Shall Pass.” (more…)

PEACE. Every year, Hip-Hop Linguistics creates two lists. One list contains the top hip-hop albums from major mainstream, underground and independent record labels. The other list contains the top hip-hop albums from minor independent labels and unsigned hip-hop artists. The first list contains artists you’ve likely heard of, while the second list contains artists you’ve probably not heard of.

This is that first list - the overall top picks for 2007. The list below represents the best albums hip-hop had to offer in the year 2007 from what we consider major record labels - whether mainstream, underground or independent. We highly recommend checking them all out! (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: September 4, 2007
  Website: Aesop Rock Website
  Label: Def Jux

Aesop Rock “None Shall Pass” Album Review
In my opinion, Aesop Rock has two big challenges that could affect the longevity of his illustrious rap career. The first challenge is copycats. I get a lot of independent stuff in the mail, and a large amount of it was obviously influenced by Aesop Rock. It seems that Aes’ fans, attracted to him because he created a style unlike the repetitive stuff they were tired of, have now become just like the rappers they were running from by making hip-hop that is basically slight variations of Aesop’s sound. And if everybody sounds like you, then you aren’t that special anymore – end of career. (more…)

She’d never spoke for months throughout the spanning of her life.
Until the day she leaned forward, grinned and pulled the nurse aside.
And she said: “Look, I’ve never had a dream in my life.
Because a dream is what you want to do, but still haven’t pursued.
I knew what I wanted, and did it till it was done.
So I’ve been the dream that I wanted to be since day one.”
Well, the nurse jumped back.
She’d never heard Lucy even talk, especially words like that.
She walked over to the door, and pulled it closed behind.
Then Lucy blew a kiss to each one of her pictures and she died.

1 2 3 that’s the speed of the seed.
A B C that’s the speed of the need.
You can dream a little dream.
Or you can live a little dream.
I’d rather live it.
Cause dreamers always chase but never get it.

Aesop Rock - “No Regrets” from Labor Days