>I'll start off by making the disclosure that Aesop is in my
>top 10 and The Impossible Kid is one of my favorite albums of
>all time. Meaning that, obviously, there was little chance
>that I would actually dislike this record unless it was wildly
>different in quality than his past few. So if you have never
>been into Aesop, take my opinion with a grain of salt. After
>listening to this a couple times, it's probably my favorite
>album of the year (tied with Armand Hammer - Shrines). A few
>initial points:
>
>- Aesop has aged like a fine wine. I would argue that in the
>last 10 years he has: (1) mastered his voice (2) tightened up
>his flow and (3) become a much better producer with a unique
>sound - there are obviously influences, but this stuff sounds
>like beats that could only be made by him, for him
>
>- The beats are great. Never stagnant. There are so many great
>beat changes. I feel like this helps me not notice that in
>comparison to his most recent work, this record is on the
>longer side at 1 hour and 4 minutes. You can hear how much he
>loves the late 80s to early 90s in the knock of the drums, the
>use of scratches and vocal samples in the hooks, and it also
>feels extremely fresh, progressive, and at times kind of
>psychedelic.
>
>- This level of longevity is not normal. I think the consensus
>Aesop Rock "classic" is Labor Days, which came out in 2001 and
>his debut (Music for Earthworms) came out in 1997. I like The
>Impossible Kid (2016), Skelethon (2012), and probably will end
>up liking this new album (2020) as much or more than I like
>Labor Days. The amount of talented emcees that have faded
>quality-wise during 97-2020 says it all. Even Malibu Kid,
>which I didn't like as much because I didn't think Tobacco's
>production fit that well, is still a good record.
>
>- This record feels like a spaced-out sequel to The Impossible
>Kid. Although on my initial listens it is definitely much less
>immediately lyrically "accessible", there are lots of themes,
>such as being anti-social, isolation, looking at society from
>afar, and wondering just what the hell every else is on, etc,
>that are prevalent in both records. There is also the theme of
>travel. I could be wrong obviously, but a part of the concept
>seems to be traveling through the spirit world, or at least
>using that as a metaphor to travel through his psyche. The way
>Aesop describes past travel experiences on tracks like "Pizza
>Alley" and "Sleeper Car" is just crazy. He is also still
>extremely good at turning seemingly mundane things
>entertaining: like swatting flies ("Flies") or just back pain
>("1 to 10"). The rapping is incredible here and I can't wait
>to dive more into the lyrics.
>

Great write up. Can't wait to hear the album.

I'm still mad that The Impossible Kid got swiped out of my car when it got broken into in front of a nightclub a few years back lol.

btw, did you see when LL Cool J was asked about his favorite current emcees doing it, he mentioned Aesop Rock right after Lupe? Those were the only 2 he mentioned specifically by name before trailing off with the typical "oh there's a lot of guys.. a lot of guys" response.