Hip Hop Poll: Round 1, Poll J
 

I'm going to have to go with KRS-One on this one. The Bridge is over being part of the first beef songs ever.

Sound of da police is another classic too so this was a no brainer for me.

I went with Aesop Rock. While he's not as influential NWA, KRS-One or possibly even the Geto Boys I like his music a lot more than anyone else on the list.

I haven't given Aesop Rock a chance. I listened to one of his songs and I didn't like his flow so I just stopped the song mid way and said overrated and that was that. Maybe one day I will give him another try.

I'm torn between NWA, KRS and Aesop. Personally I'm not a fan of any of them but I recognise the talent of Aesop, Cube and Ren and I also appreciate what KRS One did for the Hip Hop culture.

Tough choice. But since the first two votes went to KRS and then Aesop, I'm going to vote for NWA.

He definitely deserves more than a half a song listen. His album Labor Days is well worth a listen and a good place to start with him.

Aesop. Just for his lyrics, really unique. His flow is wicked too but.

While not as influential I agree about pushing Aesop through. I don't really listen to him much because his production often bothers me, but his lyricism is too impressive to miss.

What a win for Aesop Rock. Janszoon, amen, Labor Days is such an amazing cd. Battery is such a beautiful track. Album is gold.

"9-5ers Anthem" is my personal favorite but really the whole album is great.

Went with Niggas Wit Attitude here. I do like KRS though, and I've only listened to a handful of Aesop Rock songs. I could tell he had a ton of talent, but I couldn't make out some of the words and some of it just went over my head. NWA was one of the first rap groups I listened to and I dig em.

For some reason I find it surprising you're not into Aesop, seems like he'd be right up your alley. Definitely check out one of his albums, None Shall Pass, Labor Days and Float are my favorite.

This is actually a pretty hard poll for me.

KRS-One or Aesop?
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

That happens with almost everyone the first couple... weeks. Haha, but seriously... My room mate said the sheer content alone was nearly giving him a sort of panic attack (or something) and now he's spent so much time with Aesop he's not overwhelmed by anything he puts out.

Aesop Rock and his kind are a great benchmark. Once you get everything they say, you're set for understanding almost every rapper. Except maybe DoseOne, mofo's tough to follow. But I think most every person has to get used to the styles, the voice, the quirks before they fully grasp even the gist of some of these tracks. Five years into listening to Aesop, I still find lines that I'm sort of hearing for the first time. It's amazing. It's like there's so much content that some of the more subtle stuff can hide in plain sight from your ears. :thumb:

And to back up voting for Aesop Rock even more, dude is a VERY good producer.
Anyone else listened to Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez?

People have a hard time understand Aesop Rock? I always thought he annunciated pretty clearly.

Yes, Kirby,

and yes, Janszoon.

I noted dj and dirty so far saying it was going over their head a bit, etc., and from personal experience I remember what it was like. If it's the case, don't give up. Find some time to give an album a couple of spins.

Not only does Aesop Rock produce well, but he works with amazing producers such as RJD2, Big Wiz, El-P, Blockhead, etc., so besides maybe Boombox... no track disappoints. And Boombox isn't that bad. Remix'd versions are better for boombox...

I will have to give those suggestions a listen over the next week or so, thank you guys

It's important to throw on Labor Days, but you can't go wrong.

Aesop recently did a song with Tobacco called Dirt, and it inspired someone to make this brilliant mashup, released for free on soundcloud I believe. It's by TheHoodInternet, I'm sure a google search would result in a free download.

It mashes 7 Aesop songs together with Tobacco beats. I believe most of them are from None Shall Pass, but We're Famous -> We're Backwoods Famous was one of the best things I've heard in a long while. Hear for yourself:

Slightly off topic, The Hood Internet (that did those mashups) have a couple other mixtapes of mashups that they put together, and they're all worth checking out.

I really like this one track off one of them...
Rick Ross vs. CSS (Push It To The Alalimit)

Yeah, The Hood Internet is good.

On the subject of my favourite Labor Days song, definetly Sunlight. Awesome song.

You mean "Daylight"?

He must, although in battery, there are a couple sun references... he still must've meant Daylight...

Here's a new Aesop track: Bosico

From Grimace Federation's upcoming album "On Velvet"

hurr durr.
Daylight.

Glad to see that nobody has come in trying to flame Aesop yet.

To be fair I'm surprised, he is highly overrated and in general he stinks as a lyricist, he only has a couple of impressive tracks.

No he doesn't. If you can think of one valid reason as to why I will be flabbergasted.

He uses to many words.

I agree, he's an amazing wordsmith. There's always a moment when I'm listening to one of his songs and suddenly realize what the fuck he's been talking about the entire time, and it usually blows my mind. I think there's a good deal of context to work through in a lot of his songs and sometimes I'll stop paying attention to just enjoy the music... but yeah, I haven't heard many rappers with better word play than Aesop.

Sage Francis?

Personally I prefer these guys;

:rofl:

Sage Francis? LOL dude's corney

"8 Mile wasn't true, ****head / It was a promotional tool, but not for you, ****head / So let me tell you exactly what to do, ****head / Don't be a fool, stay in school / ****head"

Still better than Aesop lyrically.

You still haven't given us one valid reason why.

uhh.. yeah, I did. Straight after your post.

Thought that was a joke. So in other words, he's too smart for you?

Him using too many words doesn't make him a bad lyricist, it makes you bad at comprehension.

hey I like Sage Francis for this song but he has had so many others that I like as well

Th-the devil,
Th-th-the devil,

The devil only exists because of your belief in him,
Same goes for that other guy,
I believe the sun is simply reflecting the shine from the moon (word?)
Stealing its spotlight, they'll have a ****fight at noon,
To settle their differences,
At midnight, rematch,
To stir up their similarities on turntables,
That chicken scratch proved to be unreadable,
The determining factor in who gets the pitch to control the tides,
No one decides a victor unless they give a fair listen to both the sides,
We're low-lives,
We go blind jerking off to the eclipse,
The sun was pulling cheap shots doing commercial body tricks,
Behind the back,
Under the leg,
I think he even did a headspin,
On a crossfader that sounded whack,
But looked excellent,
All of the sudden it gets dim,
The crater face steps in,
Puts mexican drumbreaks on the Technics,
He's like "Let's begin",
He conducted an orchestra so dope the sun started sweatin' him,
I guess he'd expected to win on pure artistic merit,
Composing complex plays with nothin but soundbytes,
Burned out the lights,
Made MCs too self conscious to put their mouths to mics
For a thousand nights,
It continued without a single slip up,
Except once the record skipped,
But it kinda sounded cool,

And fit within the rhythm he was juggling,
Poly-rhythms out of country western albums spinning,
It is plain that he had come to win,
But as always due to corrupt judging,
They drew a tie - Now it's do or die.

The sun was like,
no no no,
But the moon was like,
go go go,
(repeat x3)

And when the sun was chosen,
I came to the conclusion,
This guy doesn't know what he's doin'.

God's not a woman,
He's a big white guy in the sky,
And the deserts are reflections of his eyes,
He doesn't cry for us,
But when he does,
It's cause he's drunk,
(Say What?),
God's not a woman,
He's a big white guy in the sky,
And the deserts are reflections of his eyes,
He doesn't cry for us,
But when he does,
It's cause he's drunk,
And he's always ****ed up,
Bottoms up,

God's not a woman,
He's a bitch.

(Backmasked:
Praise Jesus,
Do everything your mother tells you,
Love thy Neighbor,
Do not murder everyone,
****, Pussy)

Th-the devil,
Th-th-the devil,
(repeat x4)

This is one hand clapping alone,
This is the smallest violin, (violin)
Run rabbit when they fight to kill your baddest poem,
The devil is the ****ing white man,
This is one hand clapping alone,
This is the smallest violin, (violin)
Run rabbit when they fight to kill your baddest poem,
The white man (the white man).

(Th-th-the devil)..

I don't even care about his comparison to aesop, i just really think Sage Francis is a corny, just because he raps about middle class and how bad organized religions are doesn't make him any more of an insightful lyricist.

That being said,in terms of actual wordplay, Aesop Rock is pretty unbelievable, sometimes. I don't think he's the best out there like many seem too, but he does have some really, really good songs.



also,"human the death dance" as an album name puts a smile on my face everytime :P

Seconded. It's not necessarily anyone's fault. You hear it a few times, catch a bunch of new stuff. Rinse and repeat until you've caught the whole song.

If you don't have time for it, you don't have time for it. But it's certainly not bad because it's complex.

Just because there could be a college course/major based on interpreting/analyzing Aesop lyrics, doesn't mean it's TOO complex. I like a challenge, and with such great beats who minds relistening?