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Originally Posted by matious
Neither of you have been interpreting ****, its just you saying aesop isn't for the majority and oojay saying that you aren't allowed to say what isn't for the majority.
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When I mentioned interpretation, I was saying that him and I were arguing over the principle of interpretation. And yeah, but I think I at least supported
why he wasn't "for the majority," and his disagreement mostly amounted to "well, some people don't fall under that category! so HAH! Aesop Rock isn't that good!" Like... What?
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Aesop Rock writes what seems like ( while keeping in mind my lack of textbook education)more traditional poetry, or just highly interpretive lyrics. I can appreciate this more in other genres when it is accompanied by singing vocals instruments and music that has a range of sounds and progression, not just a repetitive loop.
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I can see that, not to mention, in other genres, the lyrics won't be so long as in rap, so there's less worry over filler and there's less to digest--the lines pop more.
And... a
lot of music relies on some sort of loop that drives the rhythm.
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When i listen to rap I'm in it for the commentary, in a sense i want to be "sold" the rappers opinions and outlook on life through recalling of expireances, jokes, **** talk, etc. I listen to rap primarily for the character types, not to try to find "myself" in the artists lyrics, not like other genres.
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I see why you're such a big MF DOOM fan, then.
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I'm not saying it has to be entirely digestible, but Aesop's lyrics are admittedly incredibly personal, and for a lot of his material I'm certain their is no message he is really trying to convey(though you'll probably disagree with that) and my interest fades and his voice just turns into melody in the back of my head.
Also, this:
I was actually kinda happy he made his own aesop rock-style sex jam
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Well, a lot of times he seems to have a stream-of-consciousness approach to imagery, but he has a beautiful knack for it, and the fact that it doesn't have an easy answer to it is nice. I like the way it works; it's like, these weird images and ideas with words are laid out in front of you, and you have to make sense out of them in accordance with your world. But listening to Aesop Rock a lot, you see consistency in themes and things like that, and you can notice a lot of different sort of linking factors through the lyrics. I think he's making more sense than a lot give him credit for, in those instances that seem nonsensical. Just because it doesn't make sense to everyone doesn't mean it won't click something in someone's head. And that's nice!
That said, yes, Aesop Rock has moments where even I, lone defender of Aesop Rock's purpose(!), am left dumbfounded, with a sense of "that makes zero sense!" But I don't think it's good to just write it off as nonsensical.
This reminds me of Zen philosophy. I imagine the Eastern world would have a greater appreciation for an Aesop Rock of their own! Zen philosophy appreciates being shocked into that state of consciousness which triggers a "whaaa?" response. This instance is known as satori, which means something like sudden enlightenment. Not exactly on topic, but my head just made that connection. :P
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Also, as for the target demographic being teenagers, that was the wrong wording, i'd say for a while that was the intended marketing. He had a campaign going on mtv, and the ****ty skeleton cover art of "none shall pass" and kids writing aesop lyrics on the walls of my highschool just kinda left me with that impression. I'd say rap music in generalis focused more on teens and young adults however, you aren't seeing any grown ass men at wu tang shows, method man is performing for 9th graders making them chant "we want how high 2" in between songs. You still have a 38 year old slug scraping the bottom of the barrel for any adolescent angst or premature rebellion he can milk for one more cornball atmosphere album
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Good points--and wow, I'm mad jealous. If people were writing Aesop lyrics on walls around my school... Or, if some of them knew who Aesop Rock
was, I'd be pretty excited. We come from pretty different worlds.
Word, okay, putting it that way kind of swayed my perception a bit. Yeah, hip hop in general (OH MY GOD) could be seen to be focused more heavily on teens or young adults, because it has a really youthful sort of energy to it--that ahead of the world sort of ideology. I definitely see younger people listening to rap before older people--but I think that's because it's still new, and older people before us have grown up with their own music, you know? Give it 20 years and there's gonna be a lot of old rap fans, I bet.
But back to how that ties into Aes's fanbase... Yeah, like I said, I see younger people first, but I guess young adults came to mind before just teenagers. Either way, I don't think he's writing to anyone specifically, I think he's writing for himself (like you said, a lot of his sh
it is clearly pretty personal), and sharing it with the whoever's gonna listen.
Oh, and oh my god, when did that come out? I've wanted to hear something like that forever. Just for the novelty value, I guess. Thanks!