Classic Verse: Aesop Rock’s “Big Bang” (Video)

In all honesty, I've been wanting to post some Aesop Rock here but I've been holding off. Aesop's my pick for greatest lyricist of all time, but that's a debate for another entry. The point is, I thought he maybe was too underground, too abstract and too unknown for inclusion in the Classic Verse series, but you know what? This is my motherf**king site, so screw it, I'm posting it. Aesop's "Big Bang" was the track that redefined for me what lyricism could be, and if that's not a classic, I don't know what is.

Lyrics are underneath the video:


"Ok, I'm here to rock the tugboat and bare the others farewell
I shook the buddy system wisdom till the similars rebel
I sell a barrel of spirit to dummy dimwits syndicate jackals
I'm broken arrow to the fuckin bone (broken poem)
I don't really believe in God/ But God, I'm scared to death of God
I swear to God, I never meant to spill the beans / Nor tear the pod
It's like I hike an acre unimpressed
And slept on the sabre's edge / Enough times to splice anti-Christ's favorite pledge
I wanna know myself
Sorta solo sheep amidst wolves
And still my shepherd can't administer the proper push and pulls
I push the ghouls to man overboard / Pull the bulls onto my sword
And buckle down in a corner chair with a round table floor
Got an angel on my left shoulder, a devil on the polar
Got a mug a frigid, got a mug a solar, sliiidde over
The recipe's design unplug the appetite continuity
By stitching together esteemed congruents (beautifully)
I peel back carts and lodge Greek physics in the chambers
Cauterized the wound and heads like "Gimme gimme something major"
Road side prophetic, ascend well / enveloped in a mummy ribbon system
Blistering in a wishing well
BIG BANG!"

Aesop's grown a lot since his younger years (he was only 24 when he wrote "Big Bang"), but even on his first album you could see the man's boundless potential. For those of you who are new to Aesop, there are two ways to enjoy his verses. The first? Don't worry about what the lines mean and just let the words wash over you. It's almost hypnotizing. Or, if you're feeling a little more energetic, feel free to break down every line like it's the f**king "DaVinci Code," I promise there's enough in there to keep you occupied for days. There's a very, very short list of rappers who could sum up my feelings about religion in two lines ("I don't really believe in God but God I'm scared to death of God"), and made it sound dope, and Aesop Rock is at the top of that list. Big Bang" indeed.

If you've got a classic verse let me know at nathan(@)refinedhype.com.