Aesop Rock – All Day: Nike + Original Run (Nike Sport Music, 2007)
(This originally appeared in Impose)
If you’re horrified by the concept of one of the undergrounds top tier rappers becoming freelance beat-makers for Nike, don’t be.
Most assuredly, Aesop gotta fuck-ton of cash for the project that this global sweat shop manager proposed. The work, while different from Aesop’s main focus, probably proved to be a strenuous one and suggests that his bump into a new tax bracket was warranted.
The requirements Nike foisted upon the hero of this review were slight: a specific b.p.m. count, forty-five minutes in duration. So, to a certain extent, Aesop was supplied with a structure to his project, but creating that long of a continuous string of music must have been daunting. The result, though, actually far surpasses Bazooka Tooth (Def Jux, 2003). Describing the overture that Aesop creates here seems almost un-needed. If you’re familiar with the beats he generally rhymes over, you can guess at the content of All Day: Nike + Original Run. Occasionally, there are lulls during the proceedings, but that’s to be expected. It, however, must be mentioned that from 15:29 through 17:25 Aesop repeatedly says “O.K.” once per bar. That’s a minor complaint when the other forty-three minutes of his work are far superior to most behind-the-boards complacency.
