Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions
You know, I gotta be honest — I haven’t listened to a lot of hip-hop this year. I’m not too much of a rap fan, at least these days, but it’s kind of just because I don’t seek it enough, minus some of the bigger albums. I listen to a decent amount of 80s and 90s rap, but a lot of newer stuff from the last few years is something that’s not familiar to me. I mean, I like the new Jack Harlow album from last year okay, even though it was a little disappointing in retrospect compared to his label debut, but if there’s one hip-hop album that I’ve been looking forward to, it’s Aesop Rock’s newest LP, and first in a few years, Integrated Tech Solutions.
This album follows a loose concept like a lot of his other albums do, but this one is about a technology company in the vein of Silicon Valley, and the introduction is a short little cheesy infomercial that foreshadows what the album is about. Listening through it, however, you may not pick up on the concept, because this album does feel like a loose collection of songs. The best way I’ve seen it explained is that the album is about what Aesop Rock can’t get with technology, versus how technology is making our world worse. He has songs about eating copious amounts of fast food, enjoying various rivers across the United States, meeting Mr. T in the late 80s (and ultimately meeting one of his heroes as a kid), and many more things that seem trivial, but they really mean something.
As always, Aesop Rock sounds wonderful, and he’s one of the best kept secrets of rap, but he does something that surprised me a bit — held himself back. Normally, Aesop Rock is a very fast and technical rapper, and switching up his flows in the middle of a song, but with this record, he keeps it simpler and more straightforward. Sure, he’s quick, witty, and interesting, but he sounds more relaxed. He’s a man with nothing to prove more than 20 years into his career. Aesop Rock is doing just fine, and he’s riding a lot of these beats (most of which he crafted himself, I believe, but I could be wrong on that). The production is great, though, and there’s a lot of very jazzy and light instrumentation here. It’s a very easygoing album, well, until it’s not, because if there’s one song on this record that showcases the best that this album and Aes has to offer, it’s “Aggressive Steven.” Appearing in the second half of the album, the song is rather bleak, as over a really nice flow that oddly feels conversational at times, and an energetic beat, Aesop Rock talks about a mentally ill homeless man that broke into his apartment, and goes into how both the managers of the building and the police mishandle the situation. The managers knew about this guy, yet did nothing to prevent anything bad from happening, whereas the police outright admit that they want him to be the victim, so they find an excuse to arrest the guy, but Aes knows that the guy will be back on the street in a matter of a couple of days, and that there’s nothing that the police can really do. Ultimately, it’s a somber tale of the mental health system failing yet another person.
I went on a tangent about that song, because it’s the best song from the album, and one of my favorite songs of the year. This song encapsulates everything about this record that works, and really, this song may seem like an outlier despite its concept, but you can interpret this as Aesop Rock saying that homeless and mentally ill people don’t have access to the technology they need, whether it’s medicine, housing, food, a job, or whatever the case may be.
This record is a bit long, clocking in at over an hour, but this record has something that I never expected from him, either: hooks. This album’s catchy, and even features a few sung choruses, which is awesome. This is easily the most accessible album he’s put out, and it’s a great starting point if you want to get into his music. It’s a little long, but the songs are catchy, the subject matter is interesting, and he does have a great voice. This is one of my favorite albums of the year, despite it coming out so late. I’ve sat with this album for the last couple of weeks, though, and it’s been worth the wait.
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Aesop Rock, Integrated Tech Solutions
New music Wednesday
The ninth album from the New York rapper highlights a shift in his approach from energetic performances on the microphone to more expressive, inventive, and abstract styles. Supported by some of his finest production to date, the album continues to draw attention primarily for his captivating wordplay. His skill in maintaining the listener's interest remains evident, especially as he explores diverse lyrical and conceptual paths. It contains collaborations with Billy Woods, Hanni El Khatib, Rob Sonic, Nikki Jean, and Lealani Teano.
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Aesop Rock's Integrated Tech Solutions ponders how interwoven tech has become in daily life
By Daniel Paiz
Integrated Tech Solutions is the name of Aesop Rock’s newest Hip-Hop album, and it’s a full dive into how technology is so interwoven into the fabric of today’s society. This 2023 release on Rhymesayers is Aes’ first full album since 2020’s Spirit World Field Guide. 18 tracks span a wide-ranging exploration into a series of topics, coupled by clever lines, engaging rhyme cadences,…
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