Ian Bavitz – stage name Aesop Rock– took his time getting to Reno, despite our rabid and diverse hip-hop scene. That’s OK.
“It’s my first time in Reno,” he said a few songs into an 80-minute set. “Only took 34 years, but f--- it, I’m here.”
He said he was told that morning that he was going to love Reno, and it looks like the prediction was spot-on – and that was surely in no small part to the very warm and full response he got at that Knitting Factory last night.
See photos from the show.
He got a good number of shouts even when asking for fans that had been with him for more than 10 years.
That is going back – his first album was 1997’s “Music for Earthworms.”
He jumped around his albums and EPs, with songs including “Coffee,” “Catacomb Kids,” “Fishtales,” “9-5er's Anthem,” and “Big Bang.”
Aesop Rock lyrics come fast and furious, but even in songs that were completely unfamiliar I could pick up a lot of the lyrics, although sometimes their rhythm and construction was so hypnotic it was almost instrumental and I soaked in the way the words played together rather than their meaning.
But I did gather the intent behind “Pigs” (he hates them!), and “Labor” was naturally dedicated to anyone who hates their job.
Aesop Rock must be pretty happy with his day job. The white rapper from New York has built a solid career on intelligent, fast-paced rhymes.
He dips into academia and lofty concepts but also toys with lots of nerdy aspects — but without ever being in danger of entering MC Chris nerdcore territory.
He’s not rapping about anything as banal as video games, but the background videos reference classic titles (“Space Invaders,” “Missile Command”), samples include “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” and there are other random touches, like the “I like turtles” clip and the Activator t-shirt referencing the Activision games company logo.
He’s been touring and working with Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz and it sounds like they’re collaborating on a new project called Hail Mary Mallon, and they did new tracks from that like “D-Up.”
Aesop also dropped some refreshing stage honesty, responding to early requests for favorite songs by explaining that performing them then would be like premature ejaculation, and he said he wouldn’t leave the stage for any encore charade.
Instead, he ended his main set with 2007’s title track “None Shall Pass,” and it was a pleasure to see him chew through it live.
The applause was great, his pause short, and then the man delivered a few more tracks to eager Reno fans.