| On the back of his two minor, but notary, underground releases (Music For Earthworms and Appleseed), New York's finest abstract emcee Aesop Rock has finally dropped his full-length debut. Marking a dramatic departure from Appleseed's tight package of eight near flawless songs, Float comes twenty tracks deep with a plethora of clever instrumentals and cunning linguistics. Any listeners of innovative hip-hop will be highly impressed by Float. Unlike most rappers pigeon-holed as "innovative" or "progressive," Aesop has a strong voice closer to Rock from Heltah Skeltah or Xzibit than Morrissey. No complaints about breath control or flow could be aimed at the exemplary vocalist, who combines this talent with lyrics that'll have you reaching for the notepad as much as the rewind button. It would be wrong to call a burst of inspiration like "I'm running with these fantastic amalgams / Painting casket boundaries to peers gunning with plastic albums," exceptional for Aesop Rock, since that's the quality of every line he spits. All of these great liners are tightly integrated into real songs with real concepts, such as "Commencement at the Obedience Academy" the source of the quote above, which uses a variety of creative metaphors to outline Aesop's struggle for individuality and "6B Panorama" a literal observation of the New York streets in front of our talented narrator. Also of note on this fine release is the production. The beats are provided either by Aesop himself or his producer Blockhead, with the exception of Omega's superb "Skip Town" - one of the album's best cuts. The main two musicians are strong throughout, with Blockhead taking extra attention with his three interludes sprinkled throughout the disc. With his eleven tracks on here, Blockhead establishes himself as a beatmaker strong enough to match Aesop's vocals, throwing in a bunch of clever shit from the harmonica in "I'll Be Ok" (featuring a nice cameo from Slug) to the crazy strings on "Dinner with Blockhead." Float is an incredible LP and stands as one of the year's best displays of outstanding emceeing and virtuoso production. - Tha Real |
2XLP/Out Of Print