Aesop Rock : Black Hole Superette
From political messaging to advertisements, we’re being fed an aggressive delivery of information every day. We’re bombarded by corporations constantly fighting for our attention and money, and in a society where the powers that be don’t give a shit about your wellbeing, it’s understandable why so many are struggling with depression in part because of that. It’s a hell no one can escape, yet Aesop Rock is better than most at cutting through the bullshit so we can face it together.
Over his three-decade career, Aesop Rock has established himself as one of the most complex lyricists in hip-hop. Listening to him spit is a fascinating and bizarre experience; never one for conventional storytelling, Aesop invents his own lexicon of complexity. The range of words he works with in any given song—along with his ability to spin metaphors from abstract comparisons—make him a linguistic auteur.
On Black Hole Superette, his eleventh album, Aesop Rock uses wit and personal narrative to take on our capitalistic-consumerist society. The playfully titled “Black Hole Superette” represents the idea of messages being shoved in our face, and its detrimental effect to our mental health. He puts forth a dualistic quality to such a notion—the oppressive nature of these messages, as well as the small delights that can come with being in a convenience store in the dead of night.
On “Secret Knock,” Aesop paints a vignette of him moving about the streets, graffiti pen in hand, his direction aimless, yet he’s ambitious: “I don’t go on nobody signal, I don’t signal, I just go / Another rain-checked one for the road, uncrustable king / Paint-pen tucked in the coat, amen / Ghost in the cold a.m., play dead”. Following this, Aesop Rock shifts into darker territory with “Checkers.” In the song’s first verse, he says: “Pay the man, simultaneously in survival mode / And looking like a hundred violations of the fire code / Designed to die alone, moments out the styrofoam / But not before these no-names go the way of the dial tone, don’t.”
Though his songs don’t play out in literal narrative fashion, Aesop Rock’s commitment to surreal wordplay has the power to stir visuals and space to life. Such dreamlike imagery comes in the form of lines like, “Auburn sky with multiple suns comp’d in / The rising and setting, steady referencing John Venn / Assembling thesе momentary overlapping super suns / Bеautiful, but lumens ain’t some renewable two for one to fool with” from “So Be It.”
Whether he’s leaning into comedy, poetic imagery, or philosophy, Aesop’s delivery is always entertaining. On “Snail Zero,” Aesop tells a story about a well-intentioned gift he got his partner—an aquarium. However, to their surprise one day, they discover a snail living in the aquarium. Then, over time, more snails appear! While his delivery of this story is relatively linear compared to other songs, it’s more than a silly story about snails. Given the album’s conceptual approach, these snails can represent the looming chaos that comes and goes in life. Or they could just be snails—that’s what’s great about Aesop Rock, the potential to decode meaning from his words is tremendous.
Alongside Aesop Rock’s verbose poetics is an array of incredible guest rappers, including Armand Hammer, Lupe Fiasco, and Open Mike Eagle. Additionally, as the album’s producer, Aesop presents an eclectic range of sound, his beat work accompanied by loops of synth, guitar, bass, and other electronic effects which cater to the record’s atmosphere. One track might play out with serene vibes (“Black Plums”), only for the next to be the sort of song you want to blast out of your car speakers (“The Red Phone”).
For as much as Aesop Rock pokes fun at the hellscape of our capitalist society, Black Hole Superette reminds us of the good in life. Though there are opportunists whose only aim is to sell you a product, they can never take away your creativity and desire to explore. There’s always going to be chaos—the giants of capitalism haven’t fallen yet—but in it, you have to find your joy where you can. Black Hole Superette is a superb call to adventure, and one of Aesop Rock’s finest works to date.
Label: Rhymesayers
Year: 2025
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Aesop Rock : Black Hole Superette
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