For those who aren't familiar with Aesop Rock, I'd invite you to give him a listen sometime. His earlier albums, in particular, have been very influential to me

For those who aren't familiar with Aesop Rock, I'd invite you to give him a listen sometime. His earlier albums, in particular, have been very influential to me in many ways. Both in my artistic and professional careers. From comments on the conditions of the working man and the condition of feeling trapped in a "j-o-b"[1]: "Now we the American working population Hate the fact that eight hours a day Is wasted on chasing the dream of someone that isn't us And we may not hate our jobs But we hate jobs in general That don't have to do with fighting our own causes We the American working population Hate the nine-to-five day-in day-out When we'd rather be supporting ourselves By being paid to perfect the pastimes That we have harbored based solely on the fact That it makes us smile if it sounds dope" To storytelling masterpieces regarding living and dreaming[2]: "Look, I've never had a dream in my life Because a dream is what you wanna do, but still haven't pursued I knew what I wanted and did it till it was done So I've been the dream that I wanted to be since day one!" Aesop Rock takes language and linguistics to entirely different levels than one might expect from the single genre that is hip-hop. He even challenges himself and the listeners, playing fantastic word games, for instance re-using the letters L, S, and D in odd and rhythmical ways after a mention[3]: "Lazy summer days Like some decrepit landshark dumb luck squad dog lurks sicker deluded Last sturdy domino lean's secluded Don't let stupid delusions lesson super-duty labor students Dragnet lifer solutions Daddy loved sloppy dimensions like son-daughter links Such determinated lepers, successfully disheveled Little soliders developed like serpents despite life sentence ducking Lemmings Some don't like sobriety's dirty lenses Some do" And then there are just incredible gems that stick with you like[4]: "I don't flick neeedles like my sick friend I don't march like Beetle Bailey through a quick trend I don't frequent church's steeples on my weekend And I don't comment if you formulate a weak Zen" There's a lot to explore from Aesop Rock. Should you find this type of hip-hop interesting, a decent place to start is with the label you can find these songs on, Definitive Jux[5]. Incredible talent has been on and off that label over the years. So much good stuff. [1] - "9-5ers Anthem" - http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-9-5ers-anthem-lyrics http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-9-5ers-anthem-lyrics [2] - "No Regrets" - http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-no-regrets-lyrics http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-no-regrets-lyrics [3] - "The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History" - http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-the-greatest-pac-man-victory-in-history-lyrics http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-the-greatest-pac-man-victory... [4] - "Save Yourself" - http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-save-yourself-lyrics http://rapgenius.com/Aesop-rock-save-yourself-lyrics [5] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitive_Jux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitive_Jux