Aesop Rock
Skelethon

LA RECENSIONE

When life hates you (and how could it not hate you? I mean, have you seen how much you suck?), there's only one thing you can do: get drunk as hell like Uncle Reginaldo (remember The Aristocats? No? Ah, that's why life hates you) and listen to Aesop Rock! 

In 5 years, anything can happen to you; I take my cousin as an example, who, in 5 years, managed to get married, separate, remarry a woman 6 years younger than him (not stupid, my cousin) and have a child. He has taken on the hatred of the whole family, but is it really important? I mean, in the end, the relatives who hate him are all old folks married to the same woman (or man) for at least 50 years. Envy, huh?

Aesop Rock in 5 years witnessed the death of a dear friend, saw the implosion of the label that had established him as an underground rap star, lost lifelong colleagues, got married and divorced; yes, a lot can happen in 5 years. Here is Skelethon:

Unsigned hype,

front line aeronauts flurry

zero dark thirty

zero friends minotaur-fugly stepchild

evoke lunch jumped over plunging necklines

Insane flow, impossible metrics, monstrous speed changes, metaphors so cultured and cryptic and an unbelievable use of alliteration; here and there some enjambment (as if it were poetry) and most importantly: the content! Yes, because it's no longer about how much money one has, how slutty your mother is (not that your sister is joking) or how good the Moet is; conscious rap? No, I say avant (but really forward, way way way forward) rap.

Indie rock guitar solos accompanied by soul choirs at the end of each refrain (ZZZ top), violent drums supporting a ghostly nursery rhyme (Crows 1), very violent bass lines marked by a sparse drum (1,000 o'clock) and a rain of apocalyptic-sounding synths (gopher guts). Impossible not to mention the single Zero dark thirty, a harsh criticism aimed at those who prefer to avoid experimentation and choose to walk paths already taken by others (the drum loop will be dragging and the hallucinatory flow of the house MC will trap you) and the dramatic Cycles to Gehenna (the ending gives the chills). Episodes where you can fully enjoy the technical skills of our artist are offered by Crows 2, Saturn missiles (also interesting the use of the drum machine from minute 1.30 to minute 1.50) and Racing stripes.

I could listen to more happy stuff, but why? Why deprive myself of the dark mood our friend has adopted? Why not get drunk as hell like Uncle Reginaldo and depress myself? Anyway, it's useless to delude oneself; you can pretend everything is going well, but in the end, as good Aes says, you realize it:

You will grow to be something inventive and electric

you are healthy, you are special you are present

then I let em go...OH