In 2014 we appraise hip-hop on its forthrightness. Take, for example, the two front-runner Grammy-nominated hip-hop albums of 2013: Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City and Macklemore’s The Heist. Both albums, in different ways, present up-front opinions on the word we live in, be it the gangland problems still present in ...

It’s hard to outdo the overwhelming badassery of Aesop Rock’s “ZZZ Top” video, pretty much just a full-length martial arts brawl, but the ferocious punk rock ballet dancers of the new “Cycles To Gehanna” video make it closer than you’d expect. Ben and Pete Lee direct with clas...

In the build up to the release of underground rap veteran Aesop Rock’s Skelethon we’ve heard a slew of strong, focused cuts like “Zero Dark Thirty” and “ZZZ Top.” Now, he’s posted the whole thing on YouTube and it’s streaming below. It’s his first in five y...

It’s been five years since Aesop Rock’s last album, None Shall Pass, but his new release, Skelethon, is imminent, and now we’ve got the second video to be released in suport of that album. Compared to the relatively sedate “Zero Dark Thirty,” “ZZZ Top” is pure action. Aes has ...

Abstract-rap prince Aesop Rock is about to return with Skelthon, his first new solo album in five years. In the video for first single “Zero Dark Thirty,” he delivers the song while slumping against a wall, as a time-lapse ghost paints and unpaints it. Isaac Ravishankara directs. Watch it and download the track below. Aesop [...