Aesop Rock

Title:   Labor Days

Label: Def Jux

Genre:  Intelligent Hip-Hop

Rating: 7 of 7

After generating a strong underground audience with his independent and Mush releases, Aesop Rock dropped this insanely dense and intelligent hip-hop record on Def Jux, the current Mecca of independent hip-hop (via 2001). The New York MC combined a potent blend of lyrical madness, including an anomaly of references that include everything from mythology to the usual pop culture name-checking, and mellow and simple beats that are as effective as the rhymes themselves. His lyrical themes jump from story-telling (#5) to blue-collar anthems (#13), which is most suitable, since at the time the disc was released, Aesop was still working 9-5 jobs. The production was handled by the subtle producer, Blockhead, whose beats, while still remaining simple, have a classical appeal of live instrumentation versus the usual, prepackaged-sounding sampling. This album seeps into your brain and forces multiple listens, mostly just to catch a portion of Aesop’s thought provoking lyrics. After the release, the fan base exploded, and Aesop Rock suffered a mental lapse due to his new-found stardom. Thanks to label-mates and friends, he managed to get by this and released the Daylight EP and later Bazooka Tooth. While Aesop Rock now enjoys national success, he remains in his small, barely furnished apartment in New York and enjoys smoking cigarettes and watching television.

Track Listing –

1.	Labor 2.	Daylight 3.	Save Yourself 4.	Flashflood 5.	No Regrets 6.	One Brick w/ Illogic 7.	the Tugboat complex pt 3 8.	Coma 9.	Battery 10.	Boombox 11.	Bent Life w/ C-Rayz-Walz 12.	the Yes and the Y’all 13.	9-5ers Anthem 14.	Shovel