Aesop Rock, born Ian Bavitz, is a  rapper and producer from Long Island, New York. I was first turned onto his music when introduced to his seventh studio album, The Impossible Kid. The record comes late into his career, but I believe it is his best, and it has become one of my favorite records of all time. Bavitz’s expansive lyrical vocabulary is a highlight of his style. His methodical raps are pumped full of methaphor and they empower me to want to read along as he performs, researching the  meanings behind each bar and letting them influence my own writing. He also attended Boston University where he studied visual art, got his BFA, and met longtime friend and collaborator, Blockhead; who upon hearing Rock freestyle, decided to put down the mic himself and become a producer full time. A lot of the messages and lyrical content on The Impossible Kid reference art and words that I was hearing and being introduced to Foundation year (which is when I first discovered this album). He was rapping about things like the feeling you get “when a forearm starts foreshortening right,” and I was in my Life Drawing class resonating with that so heavy. I found an artist/musician that I resonate with on a deeper level. This weird older New York rapper who too studied art and  wasn’t afraid to express that through his lyrics. These concepts really inspired me in 2022/2023 when assembling my musical album titled, HUSKY. I never thought that I would write lyrics about art-making and transformation, but I wrote an entire album with these elements, producing most of the instrumentals myself.