Antisocial Antihero

Aesop Rock’s fifth release, Bazooka Tooth, hit shelves in September of 2003 and presented seasoned Aesop fans and indie rap neophytes with a bit of a change for the New York City native rap artist. Rather than rely on production stalwart Blockhead for the majority of his beats, this MC and budding producer decided to handle music man duties largely on his own. The result is a collection of tracks that feature Aesop Rock’s heady, self-effacing and outwardly observational and critical raps delivered machine gun-style over beats that convey the same intelligently confrontational air — a gritty and at times slightly abrasive sound that boasts labyrinthine layering and a degree of funk warped by the MC’s own motivations. Fresh off of one tour and about to embark on another, Aesop Rock fielded a few questions from the comforting safety of his Brooklyn apartment. Though he has a reputation for being somewhat antisocial — a trait that, married to a keen observational sense, unmistakably comes through his music — he was articulate, friendly and approachable, which, oddly enough, also comes through his music.

How do you like life on the road?
I hate it. I mean, I love performing and I love the individual shows themselves, I just don’t like to tour. It’s really just a little much. Once you hit 17 or 18 shows consecutively with like one day off, you’re not exactly giving your best performance and everyone on the tour gets mad with each other…I mean, not mad, but…luckily I’m able to go out on the road with friends, but after a while you start getting at each other’s throats when you don’t even mean to, and it’s a breeding ground for pain. But like I said, I love performing — it’s the most instant satisfaction in all of this — but touring is a bit much. It’s just part of the little machine I gotta go through to do this, so I gotta do it.

You haven’t handled the majority of production work on your albums since before Float. What made you decide to take the reigns on Bazooka Tooth?
Well, I’ve been doing production for a long time, and I think I had a lot of ideas that I was never able to get across because I didn’t really have the fuckin’ money to get the equipment and the studio that I really needed. Every record that I was making was done on a digital 8-track. I never actually mixed beats until I did this album. I invested in a computer and got ProTools and a 24-track studio in my house so I was able to do some of the layering that I always wanted to do. I’ve always been working on stuff and I’ve always produced little parts of my albums, but this time around I just knew that I wanted to take more of it into my own hands. And you know, some people have been telling me that Bazooka Tooth is the worst thing they’ve heard, and some people say it’s the best. So obviously it’s not for everyone, and I think it’s just a style thing more than anything else, just ‘cause people are used to hearing me over Blockhead stuff, which I love and he’s my boy and I’ll always work with him, but I have some other things I have to get off my chest aside from writing raps.

Does production provide the same kind of cathartic outlet as writing lyrics for you?
I think they each fill a void that the other can’t. I don’t feel like writing everyday. I used to write everyday, but nowadays, if I can’t do one I’ll do the other. It just depends on how I feel on any given day. I used to just produce for myself, and if I wasn’t going to use what I made I would just throw it away, but now I’m trying to build up a library of stuff and give out beats to other people. Hopefully it’ll expand past that. I’d like to do some weird production projects if they happen to fall my way. I’d be down to do some movie music or video game music. It’s just something that I enjoy doing a lot, and the older I get the more I enjoy it. Plus, I know I’m not going to be going out and jumping around on stage forever, so I figure that I should get my résumé up a bit.

You mentioned that people either love or hate Bazooka Tooth. Why do you think that is?
I don’t know. I mean, I have fans that don’t like this record because they don’t like the fact that I did produce most of it myself, and I have fans that are happy that I finally produced most of a record myself. It’s getting rave reviews in some departments, and there are some people who never liked me, who now finally like me. But there are also people who always liked me who now finally don’t like me. I basically hit every nail possible, right on the head. But in my own opinion, I’m kind of in a place where I can sorta do what I want, and I’m always gonna have someone there who’s gonna listen because I’ve been able to develop somewhat of a pretty loyal and cultish fan base that’ll let me try new things. Plus, it’s kinda weird if every record sounds the same, and it’s also kinda weird if you do a complete 180 on a record. But I think with everything I’ve done you can sense a little growth and draw a straight line from one album to the next and see me evolving. I’m not interested in making a record twice, and I know which songs people like off Labor Days, but I’m not going to make an album full of “Daylight.” That’s just not where I’m at. Having fans is amazing and I love it and I never expected it, but I’m never going to cater to what their favorites are or to what the magazines’ favorites are. That’s the furthest thing from my head when I sit down to work. I’m just trying to directly reflect whatever I’m going through at the time, and I guess this time around things were a little bit abrasive and little bit chaotic. And those seem to be the worst words that people are tossing around when they’re talking about this album, so I’ll just smile and nod.

Some of the other terms that have been used include brooding, introspective, critical, moody — do those ring true for you?
Yeah, I get those a lot. I don’t know what it is. I never really know what it sounds like until people tell me what it sounds like. My position at this point is that I’m done proving that I can rap. Either people like it or they don’t and at this point I got other shit to talk about — most of which comes from the point of view of someone who sits and watches people. That’s what intrigues me the most right now, and that’s what I’m most interested in writing about, making these massive, swooping generalizations about people, that are probably really prejudiced.

Are your loyal fans cultish enough to step to you if they recognize you on the street?
Yeah, it’s been getting there for a couple of years, and even more so lately because of the new record. And yeah, it’s a little weird, but I kinda got that robot reaction down now. I mean, it’s amazing, I love it and it’s incredible that anyone listens to this shit, but it can be a little bit overbearing at times. I’m happy that I have fans and I would like to shake every one of their hands if I could, but at the same time, it’s weird to have a lot of fans when you really just make music about not liking people.

The dark and gritty vibe of the music on Bazooka Tooth has been compared to New York City itself. Is the city as much of an influence on your music as it is on your lyrics?
I grew up in Long Island, I’ve lived in Manhattan and I’ve been living in Brooklyn for a buncha years now, and New York definitely has a major impact on the sound of my music in general, and in the abrasiveness that I’ve felt in this city as compared pretty much everywhere else I’ve been in the world. Granted, every city is unique in its own right, but there really is no place like home and New York is definitely the city that’ll eat you alive if you don’t eat it first. I rep it in the lyrics, but only as much as I try to rep it in the sound. I know that this album isn’t something that’s gonna sink in one sitting, but neither is where I live, and that, in my opinion, is a good comment. Most music in general these days has a longevity of about two weeks, so this is hopefully something that can be dissected if anyone’s willing to give it the time. At the same time, I buy tons of club rap music and listen to it and love the fact that it has an immediate impact. It definitely has its place and it has its benefits, but for some odd reason, I just can’t seem to get myself to do it. I think there’s a place for all of it, and it all deserves a spot in rap history. Some albums are going to be a quick listen and that’s good, and some albums are going to a minute or two, and that’s good too.

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