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Aesop Rock (born Ian Bavitz) is an American hip-hop artist. Emerging during the new wave of the late 1990s, he signed to the Def Jux label.

Comparison with Bob Dylan
It is tempting to label Aesop Rock as the Bob Dylan of hip-hop.

Dylan contracted his music prowess by falling in love with folk music and absorbing as much of it as he possibly could during his teenage years. He then used this knowledge to create his own take on the music; an extremely lyrical style accented by sparse guitar and sung in his unconventional yet incredibly individual voice. His music became increasingly popular due to the observational and revealing lyrics about himself and the current times. He was somewhat reclusive and tended to stray away from the media during this time period before finally accepting their presence. Then Dylan went electric and turned away many of his hardcore fans before finally winning them back after they accepted his new musical explorations.

Aesop Rock contracted his musical prowess by falling in love hip-hop music and absorbing as much of it as he possibly could during his teenage years. He then used this knowledge to create his own take on the music; an extremely lyrical style accented by Blockhead's (on Float and Labor Days) beats and rapped in his unconventional yet incredibly individual voice. His music became increasingly popular due to the observational and revealing lyrics about himself and the current times. He was very reclusive and tended to stray away from the media during this time period before finally accepting their presence. Then Aesop began producing his own tracks and started to experiment with his sound and turned away many of his hardcore fans before finally winning them back with Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives after they accepted his new musical explorations.

As you can see, the similarities are apparent in a general sense, though I am taking a bit of creative assumptions. Aesop Rock's flow can only be explain as lyrical, and his voice, gritty. It takes you by surprise the first time you hear it. But after a few listens, and an understanding of his lyrics, respect is a given. He quickly rose to success with the Blockhead produced Float and Labor Days, and became the figure head for El-P's Def Jux records in the early 00s. The fame caught the shy Bavitz by surprise and caused a reclusiveness as his name gained even more acclaim. He later returned to the spotlight with the Daylight EP, which gave sight to a new, more confident Aesop, along with his own production experiments. 2003's Bazooka Tooth was almost solely self-produced, but was poorly received on a whole as fans were still hung up on the more revealing previous albums. In 2005, Aesop Rock once again returned to the limelight with confidence and an undeniable swagger, and Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives, which included a small book of an insert with all the lyrics to his previous releases, has taken the hip-hop community by storm once again.

RIYL

 * El-P
 * Illogic
 * Blockhead

Albums

 * Appleseed
 * Music for Earthworms
 * Float 1999 (Mush)
 * Labor Days 2001 (Def Jux)
 * Bazooka Tooth 2003 (Def Jux)
 * None Shall Pass 2007 (Def Jux)

EPs

 * Daylight 2002 (Def Jux)
 * Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives 2005 (Def Jux)

Singles

 * Coma/Maintenance 12" (Def Jux)
 * Boombox/Kill Em All Remix/Labor 12" (Def Jux)
 * Daylight/Night Light/Nickle Plated Pockets 12" (Def Jux)
 * Freeze/Greatest Pac-Man Victory In History 12” (Def Jux)
 * Easy/No Jumper Cables 12” (Def Jux)

Tracks

 * Kill ‘Em All - Def Jux Presents... (Def Jux)
 * Dead Pan - Def Jux Presents 2 (Def Jux)
 * All In All - Def Jux Presents 3 (Def Jux)
 * Train Buffers - Urban Renewal Program CD / 12” (Chocolate Industries)

Collaborations

 * Murs feat. Aesop Rock - Happy Pills (Def Jux)
 * Vast Aire feat. Aesop Rock, Breez Evahflowin’, Poison Pen, Karniege - Posse Slash (Chocolate Industries)
 * Mr. Lif feat. Aesop Rock - Success (Def Jux)
 * Push Button Objects - Shut Down - Ghetto Blaster 12"/CD (Chocolate Industries)
 * The Molemen feat. MF Doom, Slug & Aesop Rock - Put Your Quarter Up 12”/CD (Fat Beats)
 * Prefuse 73 feat. MF Doom & Aesop Rock - Blacklist - Vocal Studies & Uprock Narratives CD (WARP)
 * Atmosphere - Flesh (remix) 12” (Rhymesayers)
 * El-P - Delorian - Fantastic Damage CD (Def Jux)
 * RJD2 - Final Frontier (remix) CD (Def Jux)
 * Nature Sounds - NUMB 12” / CD (Nature Sounds)
 * S.A. Smash feat. Aesop Rock - Love To F@*k (Def Jux)
 * Aesop Rock & L.I.F.E. Long - Innercity Hustle 12" (Embedded)