After much anticipation, here and 26 shows into the Impossible Kid tour, sick Aesop Rock hit the Paradise Rock Club last Friday. The show was sold out and with some help friends Homeboy Sandman, stuff DJ Sosa, Rob Sonic, and Dj Zone, the stage was set for Boston hip-hop heads to bask in a pit full of daylight.
Homeboy Sandman christened the opening, promptly, at 9 o’clock. It always amazes me to see when an emcee has done such a great job throughout their career, that when they get a packed house, their job is already half done. Sandman rapped the audience into a trance, so much so that he barely had to recite his own lyrics, because the audience holds his crutches. But he didn’t use this as an opportunity to slack off. He embraced the crowd, bringing his A-game and leading us in classic chants like ‘God’ & ‘Not really.’
With this being my first story for Allston Pudding, I thought that it was normal that they allowed flash photography for the first three songs of the set. Apparently this rarely happens, and Aesop’s electrifying opening was definitely worthy of the exception. Rock and Sonic came out guns blazing, heavily armed and backed by DJ Zone on the ones and two.
Rob Sonic acted as the perfect partner in crime to keep us completely tuned in to the world of The Impossible Kid (Aesop’s self-produced new album). With the help of Bobby [Rob Sonic], Aesop lyrically perfected songs like “Dokken Rules”, “Dorks”, “Rings” and “Mystery Fish”, bringing us all to a frenzy as the energy continued to build.
Anyone who is an avid hip-hop show attendee loves it when the main performer asks the crowd “Do y’all wanna go back?” Especially coming from a rapper with the magnitude of Aesop and as extensive of a catalogue, the question is almost rhetorical. Before the audience can respond the beat drops and we’re taken back to the “Daylight” days. The nostalgia is pulsating through the bass and memories are shared in the form of synchronized lyrical reverberation. Aesop and Rob used every second to capitalize on such an attentive audience and the crowd loved every minute, so much so that Rob Sonic even called out the Paradise for being into something so “fucked up” as the concept of “Hail Mary Mallon.”
Aesop initially ended the show, slightly abruptly, with the lyrically hard-hitting song, “Get out of the Car.” But of course, in typical hip-hop fashion, the crowd pleaded for more chanting, “Ae-sop.” Aesop happily obliged, but under one condition, he bring one more friend. Of course the crowd had no problem with that friend being Homeboy Sandman.
Aesop, indeed, was not done. It was like he and Homeboy Sandman felt it just wasn’t right to do a whole show on separate stages and not do their collaborative ep released in 2015, LICE, together. So we got a treat: Homeboy and Aesop performed their ep together, and the crowd did not falter as hype men.
Overall this was a great job by Aesop Rock and Co. It’s been a long and fruitful career for him, and with a project as powerful as The Impossible Kid, the 40 year old Emcee is showing very few signs of taking his foot from the pedal.