None Shall Pass

Audio Mixer: Joey Raia.
Recording information: All This Could Be Yours; Cadmean Dawn International; Gotham Studios, New York, NY; TME Studios, Bronx, NY.
Illustrator: Jeremy Fish.
San Francisco MC Aesop Rock has long been the acknowledged king of hipster-hop, bringing to the game a cerebral, often ironic lyrical sensibility and a taste for adventurous production. Long Island-born AR (born Ian Bavitz) has a lifetime of personal issues and sociopolitical preoccupations banging around in his brain, and he continues to air them on NONE SHALL PASS, his fifth full-length release. Aesop's knack for getting polysyllabic while maintaining an organic flow is in full effect here: how many other rappers can make "Helvetica" and "euthanasia" fall trippingly off the tongue? Backing it all up with tracks that mix '70s funk, IDM-style electronica, left-field psychedelia, and classic West Coast beats, Aesop Rock (with guest shots from pals El-P and the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle) proves that there are still fresh approaches available to rappers with a searching spirit.