Aesop Rock - Skelethon

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I'm honestly amazed to hear you say this. I feel like every single line sounds the same in his songs—da-do da-do da-do huuuuh, da-do da-do da-do huuuuh—though I realize that would probably make more sesne if you could hear me sounding that out.

no dude i know exactly what your saying actually lol

the huuuuuh is everywhere your right

but still, thanks to his pop sensibilities and production skills i find kanye's flow engaging.

when he screams in his monotone "eating good vegetary with the brown rice" on a wacka-flocka lex luger beat i can't help but love it

I have to listen to the ruby 81 song again with more attention, i haven't dug into the lyrics too far yet.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

You can make out what Kanye is actually saying, to me it always sounds as if Aesop is mumbling.

That seems like a really weird criteria for liking music. Do you feel that way about all music or just hip hop?

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

They don't. But I prefer them to. That is why I'm not an Aesop fanboy. I have no interest in trying to decipher layer upon layer of pretentious wordplay as if it were some sort of message from Mars.

I can't say I've ever sat down and tried to decipher any metaphors of his. I generally look at his lyrics as being pretty abstract.

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

Perhaps others do, and that's fine. But that's why I do not rave about Aesop Rock. I am assuming his lyrics have signs of intelligence, I haven't listened to them under a microscope yet, from what I hear whilst passively listening, they don't strike me as being near the level of guys like Nas, Pun, Andre 3k or Immortal Technique.

You'd really describe those guys as having good lyrics? I like Big Pun and Andre 3000 a lot but I've never thought of either of them as great lyricists. Immortal Technique has decent lyrics sometimes, though he's kind of hit or miss.

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

you're serious?

You think Aesop Rock's better than Nas and Big Pun?
That's insanity man.

haven't listened to big pun but i see he has only released one record.

People have been calling nas the best forever for no apparent reason. He's a good rapper, illmatic was a great record.

I don't think he's better than raekwon, pharoah monch, butterfly, guru, or any other quintessential 90's rapper.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by A$AP Sparky

haven't listened to big pun but i see he has only released one record.

He has two, but the first one way better than the second.

Originally Posted by A$AP Sparky

People have been calling nas the best forever for no apparent reason. He's a good rapper, illmatic was a great record.

I don't think he's better than raekwon, pharoah monch, butterfly, guru, or any other quintessential 90's rapper.

Yeah, I honestly I've never really seen the appeal of Nas. He's okay but not particularly exciting.

[14232949]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

That seems like a really weird criteria for liking music. Do you feel that way about all music or just hip hop?

I listen to quite a bit of post-rock, so no; it pretty much extends to just hip-hop.
To me, the most important aspect of a hip-hop album is what the rapper is saying, if you can't understand it, it isn't really worth repeated listens.

I don't mind foreign rap though. As long as there's passion and good delivery you can get some sort of story out of the words.
I have never been able to do this with an Aesop Rock record.

Originally Posted by Janszoon

You'd really describe those guys as having good lyrics? I like Big Pun and Andre 3000 a lot but I've never thought of either of them as great lyricists. Immortal Technique has decent lyrics sometimes, though he's kind of hit or miss.

Yup, ever listened to any of Puns freestyles.
And Andre is the most unique, exuberant rapper out there. Everything he says is either pretty witty, pretty clever, or so odd that it's always memorable.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by A$AP Sparky

I have to listen to the ruby 81 song again with more attention, i haven't dug into the lyrics too far yet.

I'm not saying it's the best song on the album or anything, but it's just a cool little track (it's super-short) that tells a story from kind of an off-beat perspective. Not the kind of story people generally write lyrics about.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

I listen to quite a bit of post-rock, so no; it pretty much extends to just hip-hop.
To me, the most important aspect of a hip-hop album is what the rapper is saying, if you can't understand it, it isn't really worth repeated listens.

I don't mind foreign rap though. As long as there's passion and good delivery you can get some sort of story out of the words.
I have never been able to do this with an Aesop Rock record.

I can't say I agree with that. I mean it's cool if someone tells a story or something, but my focus with music is on the music, lyrics are definitely secondary.

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

Yup, ever listened to any of Puns freestyles.

I have. From what I remember they featured great rapping and meh lyrics.

Originally Posted by mankycaaant

And Andre is the most unique, exuberant rapper out there. Everything he says is either pretty witty, pretty clever, or so odd that it's always memorable.

I think the man is a genius... as musician. Lyrically? Not so much. I mean "Toilet Tisha" is an example of a song where the lyrics are so bad that it does actually ruin the music for me.

[Sparky]

yeah i didn't care for most of andre's writing on the love below either

he's also not a great actor, and not expecting much from his upcoming role as Jimi Hendrix

[Mrd00d]

Man I missed out on the argument... Jans really coming to the rescue. Manky, Manky, Manky... man... You shouldn't really listen to an Aesop record without your audio microscope. You must decipher the lyrics. It sounds like, to make a comparison analogy... you're in an art gallery and you take one walk around the room without stopping and leave and complain that it was all boring and plain. I feel like when I listen to Aesop's songs, I get them, and when others listen to them, it goes over the head and I'm getting a little validation here. I've been listening to Aes for 6+ years now. I know his style, his delivery. I have zero problem understanding any and every word out of his mouth, what I end up listening to it 100 times plus for is to gather the meaning. I've come across 2 repetitive themes so far: getting healthier and struggling, and extinction.

Oh man, and did we really need to pull out the p word? Pretentious. Manky, I'm not mad at ya, but pretentious? He's not pretentious because he has an advanced vocabulary and because he writes songs about non-typical things. I don't even think it's pretentious to have clever intricate metaphors. Swear when someone puts an assload of work into crafting not only a song, but a song with an underlying message... they put in more effort than your average musician easily... and people call it pretentious because they can't digest it in one listen, or even five. I want to quote point by point but this summary argument works well enough.

Questions, comments, hit me up.

[Gucci Little Piggy]

What's up with the big argument here? I guess I'm not the one to get involved, I don't know a lot of hiphop artists yet, but I can tell ya that as far as I do know them Aesop Rock is one of my favs. Aesop's rapping is great on this record but the production is where it really gets awesome. Beats on tracks like Leisureforce and ZZZ Top are absolutely iressistible to me, and the mixing on the lot of this tracks is also great. The album doesn't have any weak spots to me, the onle thing I could complain about is that the flow on a couple of tracks like Homemade Mummy isn't as great as with the rest.