Aesop Rock

Interview

Aesop Rock tells us how challenging it is to try and break out of the traditional mould that Hip-Hop imposes and the concepts behind his infamous album covers. We caught up with him just before the London leg of his sell-out UK tour.

- Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

A: My name is Aesop Rock, I’m a hip-hop artist from Long Island, New York and have lived in Brooklyn for a long time as well. I have had a bunch of records out and am currently touring for my new record, “None Shall Pass”, trying to stay busy before I get too old to do this anymore!

- I’m sure your sound gets pigeon-holed into many different genres of hip-hop, how would you personally describe your style of music?

A: To hear what it sounds like, you just gotta press play and if you don’t like it, press stop. I originally started doing traditional Hip-Hop, so I guess that’s the foundation for all of it. I am really trying to take it into Leftfield, a little bit, trying to find something that hasn’t been done within the confines of Hip-Hop. I don’t really want to do something that’s already been done and I want to take the rules and bend them as much as possible. The result is that my music belongs in the Hip-Hop family but hopefully different to anything that is already out there right now.

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- What sort of sound are you influenced by the most, past & present.

A: At first, I was influenced by the sounds of Run DMC and Beastie Boys and then I started writing rhymes, it was EPMD, Public Enemy and Slick Rick. During the mid-90’s was the time in New York, that the underground scene began to gain some recognition. I really liked the idea of individuals putting out 12” using their own money and doing everything without a big label. It was at this time, 10-12 years ago which set the standard for what myself and a lot of my peers do, to this day.

Youtube : Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

- How about issues like Politics? Do they have any bearing on your song writing?

A: It appears, only because I was living in downtown Manhattan at the time of 9/11. For the most part, a lot of people already cover this issue in their music, so I try to avoid doing it directly. When most people mention politics, it ends up with them talking at the listener and being more in their face. I’d much rather get my listeners to put on my album and slip away into an alternate world and not have to think about these kinds of issues. In America, politics is all day, everyday so I like to stay away from the topic.

- How do you go about producing your songs?

A: In most of my albums, half of it is produced by Blockhead, half by me and maybe a beat or two from El-P. I have known and been good friends with Blockhead since the early 90’s and out of everyone I have been involved in music with, he’s been the guy I’ve known the longest. We know how to work with each other well, so that sets the foundations and when I go about making a new record, it’s going to be him and me mainly, with a couple of beats thrown in by Rob Sonic or El-P.

- When you produce, what hard/software are you using?

A: The ASR-10 is my sampler of choice and Blockhead uses the same. I have a little studio in my house where I use a Roland Phantom X6, a Moog Voyager, a small Korg drum machine, a MicroKorg, a Pro Tools setup and I have vocal booth set up where I use an M11 tube microphone. My wife and I also share about 6 or 7 guitars and a whole bunch of records that is always expanding!

- What’s your relationship like with Def Jux?

A: They have been pretty good to me. They’d much rather find artists who don’t need so much help and would prefer it if you came back to them with a full album already done. But yeah, they allow me to be as creative as I want.

At this point in my career, I have become quite stubborn and kinda expect the freedom that working for an independent label should give and I would still want to release beats even if the label didn’t like them too much.

- On Labor Days, Bazooka Tooth and None Shall Pass, has great artwork, who did you commission to do them?

A: Labor Days was done by an artist/DJ/Producer called Omega One and it was actually made as a print first. I liked it and asked if I could use it for my album, because in those days, there wasn’t much commissioning being done, it was more like, “Hey, can I please use your artwork kinda thing”. Bazooka Tooth was done by an amazing artist called Tomer Hanuka who is from Israel, but lives in New York. I actually just interviewed him for the January 2008 issue of Juxtapoz magazine.

None Shall Pass was created by Jeremyfish, who I met after I got married in 2005 and moved to San Francisco where we were hooked up through a mutual friend. He said that he was a fan of my work and that he wanted me to do some music for him and I said that I was a fan of his, so asked him to do my album cover.

- So who do you think your audience is? Would you say the youth of deprived communities, as it once seemed to be with rap, or is it more for the art school-types?

A: Anyone who likes my music, I will shake their hand! I don’t discriminate, these days, the crowds are more diverse than ever, you will get hardcore rap fans to people who were brought up listening to rock. I grew up with hip-hop & skating, so to some degree, I hope I can attract them to my sound but overall, I’m happy with anyone who likes my music.

- Any plans in the near future?

A: I’ve done a couple of remixes for Del and Mountaingoats and some stuff for DJ Signify. We have been on tour for so long, (with another tour in Australia next) that I really haven’t had the chance to sit down and make some new tracks. Once the Australian tor is finished, I’m gonna go full steam ahead into some new music.

Aesop Rock : myspace.com/aesoprockwins

Written and Photos by Selph