AESOP ROCK--BAZOOKA TOOTH [2003] (mp3) Pitchfork 8.2

"Cameras or guns, one of y'all gonna shoot me to death..."



Aesop Rock is having trouble adjusting to fame. Just a few short years ago, Ian Bavitz was still selling his own handmade CD-Rs on the streets of New York, but it didn't take long for him to find his way into the spotlight: his groundbreaking Def Jux album Labor Days was an instant underground smash. Now, in the face of label inconsistency and heightened expectations, his new album, Bazooka Tooth, shows him struggling with the pressures of the media and a rapidly growing fanbase.



Aesop Rock's abstract lyricism and gravel throat have earned him critical acclaim and a rabid following, but he's no longer just a Long Island poet-cum-cipher slayer, and some of the changes he's made to his style on Bazooka Tooth are drawing attention. Bavitz spent the early part of his career tied to a sluggish, steady delivery, but here, he's upgraded his style from a nicotine-tinged calm to a more natural, accessible flow. Now attacking his beats with a mix of nervous energy and raw confidence, the new Aesop Rock cracks, lisps, bends his pitch, and most importantly, confronts his listeners rather than choosing to subtly persuade them.



His delivery isn't all that's changed; there's been a shift in subject matter, too, as this album sees Bavitz branching out from the singular topic of Labor Days to a variety of subjects, including the emergence of young killers ("Babies with Guns"), fondness for his home state ("N.Y. Electric", "No Jumper Cables"), and disillusionment with the media ("Bazooka Tooth", "Easy")-- and all while offering his usual mix of hard-edged rhyme schemes ("Park your bets, sharks or jets/ It's bark marked targets where the barnacles nest") and clever idioms ("They burrow deep under the carnivore's flesh, without a trace/ Carnival games, like try to shoot the star out of his space").



The track with the most buzz so far is also the one that has the least to do with Aesop's personal life: "We're Famous" features Def Jux CEO El-P in what serves as a company mission statement, Demigodz diss, and subterranean "Grindin'" response all in one. Cycling through harsh jackhammer synth stabs, toy gun alien abduction crescendos, and a crunk funk handclap-assisted drum line, El-Producto lambasts critics claiming "hip-hop's over," disses Esoteric ("You ain't a vet, you're just old"; "Some of these faggots used to send me their demos/ Breeding their puppy styles in the Company Flow kennels") and closes the verse with, "I'll slap the shit out of you to continue my nerd rap/ I'm making this money fist over fist, fuck what you heard." Aesop doesn't let the topic drop, claiming, "The revolution will not be apologized for," and, "B-boy, feed that to the needy/ Check your liquor hole, fuck you in 3-D, easy." The one-two combination makes for one of the most addictive diss tracks this side of Jay-Z's classic "The Takeover".



Most of the early disappointment regarding Bazooka Tooth came as a result of Aesop's decision to self-produce the record. While the Blockhead and El-P compositions stand out as the work of professional, time-tested beatmakers, Aesop's production style has a loose, raw intensity of electronic emotion that hearkens back to Company Flow and early Tricky. From the windy stadium synth-wave rocker "No Jumper Cables" to the city-stomping drum march and twisted gypsy vocal sample pan of "Frijoles" to the boogie synth, clanging staircase sample and (in the second movement) Atlanta hi-hat crunch of "Mars Attacks", Bavitz evolves from the one-dimensional sample work in which he once dabbled, and makes the step into the realm of mentionable producer.



The transition, however, isn't completely smooth, with some of the interludes adding dead weight, a couple of songs failing to stand out among the pack ("Super Fluke", "N.Y. Electric"), some unremarkable beats, and a few unrealized conceptual possibilities limiting the total ascension of neo-Rock. Fortunately, the album has more than enough solid material to keep heads coming back again and again. No big surprise: Bazooka Tooth is another strong outing from one of underground hip-hop's most talented, thanks in no small part to its unprecedented wealth of lyrical depth and individual production style.



— Rollie Pemberton, October 22, 2003