Aesop Rock at Granada Theater

Responsible for all but revolutionizing the entire face of underground hip-hop in the early portion of this decade with a slew of potent and influential releases such as 2000’s Float LP and 2001’s monumental Labor Days LP to his most recent EP, 2004’s Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives, Aesop Rock (aka Ian Bavitz) has proven that resting on his past laurels is all but forbidden. Following his Fast Cars EP, Aesop defied convention and collaborated with visual artist Jeremy Fish on “The Next Best Thing”, a short story posing as children’s book documenting the cathartic process taken to overcome a creative block. He also scored original music for two short films, “Fishtales” directed by Jeremy Fish, and “Walleyball,” released by McSweeneys Wholphin series. Early 2007 saw the release of Aesop’s unique and invigorating “All Day”, a 45-minute continuous mix commissioned by Nike+ for their Original Run series created specifically to enhance a runner’s workout with varying changes in tempo and instrumentation. Constantly finding new ways of innovation goes hand in hand with the dense verbosity and ethereal stutter-funk that codifies Aesop Rock’s output, and None Shall Pass is no exception.