crumpet asks… aesop rock answers

Q: What were you trying to achieve with None Shall Pass?

A: I was trying to challenge myself. I knew I wanted to make songs that were less about me and more about tell stories. I didn’t really feel that I needed to write any of that obligatory, competitive rap. I felt like I had done that. I don’t feel like I’m in a competition with anybody because I don’t really care what other people are doing all that much.

Once you knock out the aspect of competition or complication in rap music you’re left with a pool of other ideas that nobody has ever touched. I tried to sort of pick ideas and write songs that I hadn’t heard anyone write about, you know topics and subject matter all the way down to the way you’re presenting the topic and style, you know making a world, even with the artwork, everything that’s tied into the album.

I don’t want the album to be yelling at you when you put it on, I want you to be able to get lost in it and find that there’s a little story and you can follow it.