Read Between The Frets: The Philosophy of Rock Music

“I’m not a name to keep at arm’s length.” Hip-hop artist Aelsop Rock (born Ian Matthias Bavitz)’s 2001 album Labor Days makes apparent this lyric from the otherwise mind-bogglingly cryptic “Coma” - Aesop Rock is an artist with a powerful message, and one who should not be ignored. Regardless of whether you enjoy commercial rap music (I rarely do), Aesop is worth a listen. Labor Days is widely considered his best album, and was critical in his rise to underground fame. The album reflects on the struggles of a working class imprisoned by capitalism; the chorus in “Daylight” repeats “All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day, put the pieces back together my way.” The powerful theme combined with impeccable beats, lyrics rife with metaphor and symbolism, and Aesop’s deep, smooth, damning voice reciting his dense, multi-layered, sesquipedalian critiques of capitalism and “wage slaves” add up to form a stunning album whose sweeping message becomes just a little clearer with every listen.

Labor Days was Aesop Rock’s second major release, and holds some autobiographical significance; Aesop’s first two albums, Music for Earthworms and the Appleseed EP were released after he had earned enough money working as a waiter to release them. “Daylight” from Labor Days became a popular single, and was released on an EP a year after the release of Labor Days. Labor Days was also Aesop’s first album released on Def Jux Records, and as with the previously released Appleseed EP and Float, was produced with the collaboration of hip-hop producer Blockhead.

The first lines heard on Labor Days are from the track “Labor”: “(This is labor, labor, labor… labor days!) / Who put the monkey wrench in well-oiled perfectionist emblem, just to watch these monitors spit white noise through your office space, auto made?” Aesop critiques in these lines the mechanical lives of workers in a capitalist structure. The lyrics immediately following are a bit trickier: “I infect knowledge gene pool dissented cloud clusters, brushing dust mites off your starborn all revolution sound jugglers.” Much of the album proceeds like this way, with Aesop barraging the listener with complex and obscure lyrics that sometimes remain undecipherable after numerous listens. It would likely take months, if not longer, to pick apart every bit of meaning injected into Aesop’s songs; the dense nature of his lyrics make the album sometimes a chore to listen to at first, but the “ohh… wow” feeling of understanding another piece of his lyrics is a rewarding one.

Aes reveals his perspective on life as well as labor - as he states in “Daylight,” “Life’s not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman.”"Save Yourself” provides commentary on unnecessary wars:

I can not agree to follow a leader while on the borderline,
A war without a reason for the Brady hates gore,
Bring out your dead we can put em in a pile,
And burn em with the novels for the kids to admire.

Track 5, “No Regrets,” is notable because its lyrics are considerably easier to swallow. Aesop narrates the story of a misunderstood artist named Lucy, who lived an introverted life and surrounded herself with her art for her entire life. The story of Lucy concludes with her speaking her insightful view on life and aspirations:

She’d never spoken once throughout the spanning of her life
,
Until the day she leaned forward, grinned and pulled the nurse aside
And she said: 
‘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!’

“Battery” furthers the autobiographical aspect of the album. Aesop sings “There’s smoke in my eyelids, but I painted a sunny day on the insides of my iris / And I’m ready now (What you ready for?) I’m ready for life in this city, and my wings have grown almost enough to lift me!)” The song also tells of a homeless trumpet player who sits upon a crate and plays. The last lyrics of the song are “I wanna be something spectacular when the sun runs outta batteries / Attach myself to the casualties of anarchy / Save my nickels up to buy that homeless man a brand new horn / Then sit upon his crate as a witness to beauty born like this.”

“9 - 5ers Anthem” is the second-last song of the album, and while much of the song is mired in complex metaphor, some parts are more comprehensible, on par with “No Regrets.” Aesop Rock writes about cynicism (”I’ll take my seat atop the Brooklyn Bridge with a Coke and a bag of chips / To watch a thousand lemmings plummet just because the first one slipped.” Borrowing from and punning on Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” Aesop Rock portrays the demoralized attitude of the working class; “Fumble outta bed and stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition and / yawn and stretch and, my life is a mess and / if I never make it home today God bless.” In one of the most immediately memorable moments of the album, and also within the same track, Aesop recites a vivid description of his contention with the life of the worker: “We the American working population hate the fact that 8 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 9 to 5 day-in, day-out, while 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.” The last song of the album, “Shovel,” summarizes the dilemma of a desire to stand out alongside a desire for privacy: “you don’t want to be overlooked / yeah, but you don’t want to be looked over too much.”

Labor Days is truly a great album - a political statement embedded in a combination of soothing beats, powerful vocals, and thought-provoking lyrics, a work into which Aesop Rock has poured part of himself. Each successive listen is more enjoyable than the last, and while not every track is a masterpiece, they flow very well together and there is no track that makes a listener want to skip ahead. Hip-hop fan or not, Aesop Rock is worth checking out by anyone who appreciates thoughtful music.

Aesop Rock - Daylight