Aesop-anything getting close?

[Freelancer]

I've been listening to hip hop for a long time now and I'd been through most of the good ones, I remember starting off with Nas, an obvious choice since he has a lot of exposure, then I migrated to KRS-1, Rakim, Mob Deep, and so on. Then one day I discovered Immortal Technique and I went like *well this is some serious flow*.

So one day, about 2 years ago I stumble upon some disscusion about who is the greatest white MC out there and someone mentions Aesop Rock. My first reaction was who the **** is this guy, but opened to listening to more stuff I give a try and listen to some of his tracks. Man oh man was I in for a surprise. He can't be writing his stuff sober, it's just too good. After some time I realised that he makes that kind of music that needs an aquired taste, like wine. At first I kept listening to some of his more complex tracks just to figure out if he actually makes sense and indeed he does. Frankly it was a breath of fresh air.

To this day, altho I discover new MC's out there constantly none impressed me as much as Aesop and that feeling I had when I started to get what he's saying. To me he's the best lyricist out there today. I know that's a subjective matter.

My question is, to those that are familiar with his work, who out there gets close to having such complex lyrical structures, cuz I didn't find them yet.

[CrackYourJaw]

Off the top of my head Sage Francis and El-P come to mind, I'm not a big fan of Sage or Aesop, but I do like El-P. How'd you just find out about him? Dude's been around for a while.

And why can't he write it sober?

I never really liked the idea that somebody had to be drunk or high to create good music/art or have a higher level of creativity, I see what you mean, though.

LOL.

[Freelancer]

Found out about him 2 years ago, but still couldn't find stuff to compare since. As for the whole sober thing, it ressembles too much with a mind flow that just gets spitted out, or put to paper.

[CrackYourJaw]

I'd say Cannibal Ox is from a similar "school" of hip-hop, but they're one of my favorite rap duos/groups ever.

[Freelancer]

Off the top of my head Sage Francis and El-P come to mind, I'm not a big fan of Sage or Aesop, but I do like El-P. How'd you just find out about him? Dude's been around for a while.

And why can't he write it sober?

I never really liked the idea that somebody had to be drunk or high to create good music/art or have a higher level of creativity, I see what you mean, though.

LOL.

I like EL-P also, didn't listen to Sage Francis but I'll check it out. Thanks for the idea.

[the traveler]

I haven't heard much from Aesop. The stuff that I heard, I couldn't make much sense of it. But, I'm still going to offer up some mcs that have pretty complex, abstract lyrics.

There's this dude Frank Wit. He's unsigned, but he's lyrically as good as any rapper I've heard. I've been following him for a few years. He's in the top 3 best lyricist I've heard.

Check out these tracks(click the hi fi if you have a fast computer, lo fi if you still have one of the old dinasours):





(He's on the second verse)



Also, if you've been listening to Aesop for a while, you've probably heard of Illogic. Illogic has some pretty deep, spiritual lyrics.

[CrackYourJaw]

I haven't heard much from Aesop. The stuff that I heard, I couldn't make much sense of it. But, I'm still going to offer up some mcs that have pretty complex, abstract lyrics.

There's this dude Frank Wit. He's unsigned, but he's lyrically as good as any rapper I've heard. I've been following him for a few years. He's in the top 3 best lyricist I've heard.

Check out these tracks(click the hi fi if you have a fast computer, lo fi if you still have one of the old dinasours):





(He's on the second verse)



Also, if you've been listening to Aesop for a while, you've probably heard of Illogic. Illogic has some pretty deep, spiritual lyrics.

I have only listed to little clips of that Frank Whitt dude, I can't gather much about his lyricism in a few little clips, but his delivery sounded pretty bad. He just sounds so awkward, some songs are worse than others of course, but I don't know, he sounded kind of "nerdy" to me. Like, he might "technically" be good, but there's just something about his voice/delivery that I'm not feeling too much.

Illogic is nice, though.

[the traveler]

He sounds like a normal dude to me. He's no more "nerdy" or akward than aesop.

To me, I don't focus so much on superficial stuff like his voice. What I like about his work is that his lyrics are extremely conscious and contain a high level of spirituality and understanding.

I'm not saying he's the best rapper ever, I just posted him because the thread starter was asking for an mc with complex structure. I think Frank might have some of the most complex lyrics.

[Equilibrium]

Heron Demarco:



Slug(Atmosphere):



Last Emperor:



Tell me what you think.

[the traveler]

Those are some good songs. I've never heard of Heron before. He sounds like a hungry, thirsty wild animal.

The Last Emperor is the smooth professor.