Aesop Rock

Aesop Rock is that weird drunk lunatic street-corner apocalyptic rambler with a record deal -- and we love him for it. Awash in assonance and alliteration, Aesop's lyrics interweave disconnected metaphors, blue-collar platitudes, the dregs of pop culture, and sheer linguistic nonsense. "Pagans fade into the Kodachrome now, later with a lid to brow staple revisit the cobra loading zone," the MC raps on "Fast Cars." It's hip hop as action painting, and you'd be forgiven for not knowing what the fuck th\e guy's talking about, but at least now you have a fighting chance: While the seven songs on Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives are serviceable (if not very memorable), the real find here is the beautiful, 87-page companion book, The Living Human Curiosity Show, which deciphers five albums' worth of lyrics. Consider it assigned reading from Aesop Rock.