“Pumpkin Seeds” is a new collaboration between Aesop Rock and Lupe Fiasco. It’s produced by their fellow hip-hop luminary Blockhead, who made the beats for Aesop’s 2021 album Garbology. The track is a benefit for the Collaboratory, an organization raising funds and awareness for two DIY skateparks in Dayto...

Way back in 2015, the underground rap greats Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman teamed up to form a duo called Lice, and they released an extremely fun free-download EP. They followed that with two more EPs, 2016’s Lice Two: Still Buggin’ and 2017’s Triple Fat Lice. Since then, Aesop and Sandman have continued to work t...

Aesop Rock first rapped over a Blockhead beat 24 years ago. At least, that was the first time that Aesop Rock rapped over a Blockhead beat on record. The Long Island rapper and the Manhattan beatmaker had become friends a few years earlier at Boston University. By the time Aesop self-released his 1997 debut album Music For Earthworms, Blockhead ...

Underground rap wordsmith Aesop Rock and veteran producer Blockhead have announced a new joint album called Garbology. Although the two are longtime collaborators who have worked together plenty of times stretching all the way back to the late ’90s, Garbology, which came together while Aesop Rock was processing the loss of a close frie...

More than 21 years ago, I saw the Minneapolis rap group Atmosphere open a show at New York’s Knitting Factory. At that show, the late Eyedea was Atmosphere’s hypeman, and they were great. The bill also included a couple of standout New York underground acts, J-Live and MF DOOM, all opening for Chuck D’s terribly and...