Aesop Rock: All Grown Up?

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By: Kayceman

MUST NOT SLEEP… …MUST WARN OTHERS.

Aesop Rock

The words are tattooed in big block letters on Aesop Rock‘s (born Ian Bavitz in 1976) forearms, dripping down past his shirt sleeves. The ink was lifted from Aesop’s song “Commencement at the Obedience Academy” off his second full-length album, 2000’s Float. “[It’s] somewhat of a mission statement,” says Aesop. “And the warning others part [too]. There’s always this kind of paranoid edge to whatever I’m writing. It just seemed like a reminder [that] there’ll be some point when I have to go get a regular day job again, I would assume. But, for as long as I can, you know, try to avoid being a banker or getting a desk job, just kind of trying to force myself to be creative. And nothing forces that more than getting some tattoos where no one will hire you to work anymore.”

Paranoid and creative. If you had to pick two words to sum up Aesop Rock, these would fit. Aesop’s distinctly dense lyrical style, evil view and tweaked-out baritone-drawl have revolutionized underground/indie hip-hop. As his creativity has grown, so has his fan base, and with that his paranoia. When Aesop began to break in 2001 with Labor Days he started shutting down. Legend has it that he suffered from serious depression and would stay in his Brooklyn apartment for days on end, smoking cigarettes and playing video games, afraid to leave the crib. His internal battle led to songs like “Cook It Up” off 2003’s Bazooka Tooth where Aesop raps, “If you love television and manic depression/ Get a carton of cigarettes/ And we can make it happen.”

That was four years ago, and a lot has changed since then. Aesop got married (to Allyson Baker, guitarist of Bay Area rock band Parchman Farm), moved to San Francisco, quit smoking and climbed out from inside his own head. “I’m kind of happier these days,” he admits. “People get scared of being happy when they’re artists because they think it’s going to be the beginning of the end, but I don’t know; it’s sort of grounded me in this way where I could finally write music that’s not all about me complaining. And when I started doing it I was almost opened up to this whole other world of writing where I don’t always have to be so boxy and kind of preachy about my take on things or my opinion.”

STORY TIME

Aesop Rock

Aesop’s new sense of peace hasn’t detracted from his creativity – it’s opened up a new channel. Instead of harping on his own dementia, we find him looking outward on his new release None Shall Pass (released August 28 on Def Jux). “I think turning 30 had a lot to do with it,” he says. “At some point I was just like I don’t want to write about myself and I don’t care that much about it when other people do it.” Aesop has always steered clear of the self-obsessed braggadocio that permeates hip-hop, and while there may be a slight stylistic change that finds him digging deeper into a third-person story world with None Shall Pass, his rhymes are still bizarre clusters of words, clouded in hazy metaphors that cling to the beats like fog to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. His new record is almost like an avant audio Aesop Rock movie, where tales of judgment, youth’s end, drugs, pirates, society and relationships paint vague pictures that we may or may not relate to.

“The first song on the record is a little abstract,” explains Aesop, “but it’s supposed to be about, I wake up in the morning and there’s all these ghosts that are sort of hanging out on my front lawn and I’m just kind of like, ‘Hey guys, don’t hang out here. This isn’t really your spot to loiter.’ They’re basically just telling me, ‘Look, we are all these untold stories and we’re not going anywhere till you tell us.'”

I’m kind of happier these days. People get scared of being happy when they’re artists because they think it’s going to be the beginning of the end, but I don’t know; it’s sort of grounded me in this way where I could finally write music that’s not all about me complaining. -Aesop Rock

JUDGMENT DAY

Aesop Rock

As much as Aesop points the mirror away from himself, any piece of art reflects the artist, and on his latest effort he can’t help but take stock. “I found turning 30 to be a time, like what better time, to sort of reflect on what you’ve done thus far, just kind of go through your life one step at a time, think about what kind of person you’re turning out to be, and if you like that person,” says Aesop. This idea of judgment gave birth to the title: None Shall Pass. “It was kind of like nobody’s going to get past this point [turning 30] of their lives without kind of being forced into being judged and kind of judging other people and sort of, I don’t know, coming of age.”

Growing up isn’t what we expected when we were kids. We don’t just wake up one day and feel well adjusted with our nice house, big paycheck, spouse and kids. There’s no formula, no definitive switch that gets flipped. It’s a slow process, a gradual development where our selfish views give way to broader thoughts. We embrace responsibility and rise above our trials as opposed to sinking under their weight. “I feel like I lead a calmer life than I ever have,” offers Aesop. “I find myself making decisions that are taking into account the fact that I now have myself and my wife to worry about and it’s more than just me. I’m trying to think ahead a little bit and think for two instead of for one. In many ways, I do feel like that’s sort of [adulthood] kicking in, whether I like it or not.”

Listening to Aesop Rock speak openly and kindly today it’s hard to believe he’s the same paranoid freak that used to stare through his apartment blinds, afraid to go outside. Maybe it’s the change of scenery, maybe it’s finding true love, maybe it’s just getting older or some combination of it all, but one thing’s for sure, Aesop Rock is growing up. And he’s as prolific as ever. Not only has he created what could be his best album yet, but the past couple years found Aesop collaborating on a short story called “The Next Best Thing” with visual artist Jeremy Fish, scoring original music for two short films and creating All Day, a 45-minute nonstop workout mix for Nike as part of their “Original Run” series.

DON’T STOP TILL YOU GET ENOUGH

Aesop Rock

Aesop’s always-innovative beats avoid predictable jazz loops in exchange for gritty rock with a dirty funk heart. The music on None Shall Pass retains Aesop’s abrasive, heavy style but also features more live instrumentation than ever before. Amongst a few special guests (most notably production guru Blockhead and Def Jux label head El-P), Aesop plays bass and keys, his wife plays guitar and there’s a bunch of rare samples that do things like mix a snare from the ’80s, a bass line from the ’70s and a heavy rock guitar riff from today. There’s even a guest spot from The Mountain Goats‘ John Darnielle on the disc-closer “Coffee.”

“I’ve been a fan [of Darnielle] for like thirteen years or something like that. I was going to Mountain Goats shows for a lot of years. I always looked up to him as a lyric writer, and I always thought he was just really one of the better songwriters of our time,” offers Aesop. The appreciation went both ways and Darnielle jumped at the chance to collaborate again (they worked together years ago on a track that never got used). The results are excellent and the track reminds us just how outside the box Aesop Rock really is. The term “indie” sticks to Aesop like the pungent smell of ganja, and when you hear Darnielle – a lo-fi, indie-folk hero – floating over the staccato beats and matching Aesop’s thick flow, the term couldn’t me more accurate. Aesop Rock is a bridge from hip-hop to indie rock. His beats are a dirty hybrid of the two and his lyrical content alone would make him a legend in any scene.

Aesop Rock has done it, he’s figured out how to channel his pain into his art without self-destructing. Instead of falling deeper and deeper into his own shit, he’s looking past his tiny slice of life and catching a glimpse of the universe. He’s used his music as a way to process all the crap we swallow and has come out the other side happy, at peace and still creatively vital. He’s hit the “dirty thirty,” left his troubled days in New York behind, moved across the country and got married. So, is Aesop Rock really all grown up? “I don’t know,” he says. “It’s a hard call because I’m still so [pauses] like if I see a cool toy, I’ll buy it. And I’m still playing video games.”

Check out the video for “None Shall Pass”

Aesop Rock is on tour now, check him out HERE.

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