Food, Clothes, Medicine comes to us off of Aesop’s EP entitled Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives released in February of 2005, two years before None Shall Pass. The EP has songs produced mostly by Aesop and Blockhead, with this specific tune being produced by the man himself.

Food, Clothes, Medicine will be the only song clocking into my top 30 from the Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives extended play. Nonetheless it is a great EP from Aesop, with some great songs being Number Nine, Rickety Rackety, and Zodiaccupuncture. I’ll go weeks without listening to this EP, sometimes almost forgetting about it, only to reopen it and (usually) be taken back by how good it really is. The entire extended play has a great ‘fuck you’ atmosphere, similar to Bazooka Tooth which predated this EP by two years. You still get the feeling he is still in that Bazooka Tooth persona.

The start of Food...

Number 26 folks: Fishtales. Coming to you off of a Aesop’s second B-side album. This song is one of Aes’s straight forward stories. My buddy would kill me if he saw it on this list, but this isn’t his list. If you like this kind of rapping from him, he has two other similar songs that I can think of off the top of my head: No Regrets and Ruby ‘81, both of which are fantastic and also both of which will not appear on my list. It isn’t that they aren’t good, they are. It is just that I don’t think that they embody the things that make an Aesop song an Aesop song. If I were making a top 30 story telling rap songs (with 'dance with the devil’ at 1, obviously), maybe they would be on it. I thought I would put one of these type’s of songs on the list for all the experienced listeners who are looking to get the whole Aesop experience. The dude has a lot of talent, enough to where I think he...

Probably one of the most juxtapostionized (yeah I said it), why-the-hell-am-I-nodding-my-head-and-smiling songs of all time: Homemade Mummy. Coming to you off of Aesop’s newest album, Skelethon, released in the summer of ‘12, Homemade Mummy is a song that always makes me smile and always makes people around me question my sanity. I’m going to hold off on talking about the album as a whole until later on, but I’ll just tell you this- I like it.

Maybe one of the reasons I find this such an uplifting song is the fact that I have listened to it a few times and realize Aes is using the mummy thing as a metaphor for using your heart over your brain. It might also be because the music video seems like it was so much fun to make (and also perfect for Leisureforce?). Who knows. But the truth is while the song might be uplifting it is most definitely still pretty damn dark. Just look at how it...

After a long delay, I present 28. Coffee. This song is the (sort of) final track on Aesop’s fifth album titled ‘None Shall Pass’ released in the summer of ‘07 and features John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats.

The fact that Aesop and Darnielle did a rap song together is in itself enough of a reason for Coffee to be notable, but the fact that it clicks is what puts it on my list. While their styles are completely different, maybe even polar opposites, it makes sense that these two artists can come together to make a song that works. Both are incredible lyricists with unique voices. I hope I’ve convinced you that Aesop knows how to write a line or two by now, but let me quickly talk about Darnielle. Darnielle has a nasal-heavy delivery that wavers between whispering and screaming. He pumps out some great lyrics that are sometimes blatant and don’t require much deciphering such as this...

So quick side note here: I originally planned this entry to be Aesop Rock’s “The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History”, but surprisingly couldn’t find a Youtube video of it. If your new to Aesop, definitely at song out, especially the final verse.

But due to the lack of Youtube video, I decided to throw in No Jumper Cables. Just because it wasn’t originally on the list, doesn’t mean this song can’t get you nodding your head. No Jumper Cables is the fourth track on, in my opinion, Aesop’s weakest album, Bazooka Tooth. Bazooka Tooth dropped September 23rd, 2003, about 2 years after the 911 attacks in his hometown of NYC. All the songs on Bazooka Tooth are all pretty similar in their sound, a sound of Aesop’s that is definitely unique to the album. It is sort of the most ‘fuck you’ album, and I think it has the most abstract lyrics. Part of the reason that it is my least favorite album...

Let us start where Aesop started. Abandon All Hope is Aesop’s first track on his debut album Music for Earthworms, released in 1997. If it weren’t the fact that I thought I’d be witty and start where Aes started, this song would by higher on my list.

Abandon All Hope starts with fifty seconds of eerie, static-y piano, and Aes repeating his name over and over again. Not a bad way to start a rapping career. It’s almost as if he is getting use to his rap moniker himself, trying it on for size. Aesop, Aesop Rock…Aesop, Aesop Rock…Aesop, Aesop Rock. And then the beat cuts, and all experienced listeners get a slight grin on their face that equates to: ‘Aw shit, he we go’. And then he just starts saying words.

Words that are first hard to keep up with. You may not be use to certain words being connected in the ways that he connects them. You may not be use to the speed in which he says...

Over the next month I will be posting my favorite 30 Aesop Rock songs in descending order. There will be bias, and I probably will forget a couple, but hopefully this list will give a new listener somewhere to start, give an experienced fan something to debate, and give me a reason to re-listen to Aesop’s albums in chronological order.