# Underground Hip-Hop — The Artists I Follow

> Brad's deep knowledge of underground and alternative hip-hop — Aesop Rock, El-P, The Roots, Open Mike Eagle, Danny Brown, and the wider underground scene.

The underground is where I live musically. This is where hip-hop stays interesting — where people take risks, where lyricism actually matters, where nobody's chasing algorithms.

## Aesop Rock

The densest vocabulary in hip-hop — that's been scientifically measured. A study analyzed unique words per 35,000 lyrics across rappers. Aesop Rock came in at #1 with roughly 7,392 unique words. Shakespeare used about 5,170 across the same word count. That's not a novelty stat — it reflects his refusal to repeat himself, his constant invention of new metaphors, and his background as a visual art student at Boston University.

His discography is deep:

**Labor Days** (2001) on Definitive Jux was the breakthrough. A concept album about rejecting conventional work to pursue art. "Daylight" is his most famous song — a manifesto about choosing creative life over 9-to-5 drudgery. "No Regrets" tells the story of a woman named Lucy who paints her entire life without seeking validation. "9-5ers Anthem" has one of my favorite opening lines in hip-hop: "We the American working population / Hate the fact that eight hours a day / Is wasted on chasing the dream of someone that isn't us." Production by Blockhead — jazzy, melancholic, the definitive Aesop sound.

**None Shall Pass** (2007) was his commercial high point. The title track had a hook that was, by Aesop standards, actually catchy. The animated music video went viral. He proved he could be accessible without dumbing down.

**Skelethon** (2012) is where he got deeply personal. Entirely self-produced. Deals with the death of his friend Camu Tao (lung cancer, 2008) and the end of his marriage. "Gopher Guts" might be his most devastating track — brutal self-examination. "Ruby '81" tells a childhood story about his cat that somehow becomes profound. This album marked his full maturation as a producer.

**The Impossible Kid** (2016) is his most accessible album. He'd moved to Portland. "Rings" is about his complicated relationship with making art. "Shrunk" is about going to therapy — a rare moment of directness. "Blood Sandwich" tells stories about his two brothers, each verse dedicated to one. Incredibly vivid narrative writing.

**Spirit World Field Guide** (2020) frames itself as a guidebook for navigating the spirit world — a metaphor for mental health and the surreal quality of modern life. "Kodokushi" is named after the Japanese concept of dying alone and not being discovered. Dark.

**Integrated Tech Solutions** (2023) is a concept album about corporate workplace dystopia. Anti-capitalist themes from Labor Days but through more satirical, narrative lens.

His collaboration with **Blockhead** (Tony Simon) defined the classic Aesop sound — jazzy, sample-heavy beats with a melancholic undertone. His later self-produced stuff has a different texture. His side project **Hail Mary Mallon** with Rob Sonic is lighter and funnier — brings out a looser side.

I'm convinced half his bars are about things nobody has decoded yet. Every album rewards multiple listens.

## El-P and Run The Jewels

El-P's career is a three-act play about how to be uncompromising and still win.

**Act One: Company Flow.** Funcrusher Plus (1997) is one of the most important underground hip-hop albums ever made. El-P, Big Jus, and DJ Mr. Len. The production was unlike anything in hip-hop — dense, industrial, claustrophobic, built from distorted samples and dissonant textures. "Patriotism" is a 10-minute closer featuring spoken word. Prescient political commentary. They essentially invented a lane.

**Act Two: Definitive Jux and Solo Work.** El-P founded Def Jux in 1999. The label became THE home of experimental hip-hop in the 2000s. Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, Mr. Lif, Cage, RJD2, Camu Tao — all under one roof. Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein (2001), produced entirely by El-P, is considered some of the finest production work in hip-hop history.

His solo albums pushed boundaries hard. **Fantastic Damage** (2002) sounds like a city collapsing — post-9/11 anxiety permeates everything. "Stepfather Factory" is a dystopian narrative about a factory that produces replacement fathers. **I'll Sleep When You're Dead** (2007) featured Trent Reznor and was even more ambitious. **Cancer 4 Cure** (2012) found the balance between abrasion and impact that would define RTJ.

**Act Three: Run The Jewels.** El-P produced Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music (2012) and they had instant chemistry. Then Run The Jewels happened, and everything changed.

**RTJ** (2013) — released for free. 10 tracks, no filler. Aggressive, funny, politically charged.

**RTJ2** (2014) — the masterpiece. "Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)" featuring Zack de la Rocha is one of the decade's best hip-hop tracks. "Crown" — Killer Mike's verse about his mother's death is devastating. "Lie, Cheat, Steal" is an anti-capitalist anthem. This appeared on every best-of-2014 list.

**RTJ3** (2016) — "Thursday in the Danger Room" featuring Kamasi Washington is jazz-rap fusion done right.

**RTJ4** (2020) — released during the George Floyd protests. "Walking in the Snow" has Killer Mike rapping "I can't breathe" — written before Eric Garner and George Floyd. Eerie prescience. "Ooh La La" featuring DJ Premier and Greg Nice was their biggest single. "A Few Words for the Firing Squad" featuring Josh Homme and Mavis Staples is an epic closer.

RTJ proved that uncompromising, experimental, politically charged hip-hop could fill arenas. They never softened their sound, never simplified their politics, released albums for free — and became festival headliners.

El-P's production style: industrial textures, heavy analog synths, dense layering, dystopian atmosphere, sci-fi influences. He's one of the most important producers in hip-hop history, alongside RZA, Premier, Madlib, and J Dilla.

## The Roots

The best live band in any genre. Not "best hip-hop band" — best band, period.

Founded in 1987 in Philadelphia by **?uestlove** (Ahmir Thompson, drums) and **Black Thought** (Tariq Trotter, MC). They met at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. Their core innovation: performing hip-hop with a full live band.

**Black Thought** is one of the greatest MCs alive and still doesn't get the recognition he deserves. His 2017 Funkmaster Flex freestyle — 10 minutes, off the dome — went viral and reminded people he's elite. His multisyllabic rhyme schemes, breath control, narrative ability, and freestyle skill are extraordinary.

**?uestlove** is a musicologist, DJ, author, filmmaker (Summer of Soul won the 2022 Oscar for Best Documentary), and the most important figure in bridging hip-hop and live musicianship.

The discography is deep:

**Things Fall Apart** (1999) — their masterpiece. Named after Chinua Achebe's novel. "You Got Me" featuring Erykah Badu won a Grammy. Written by Jill Scott, who was replaced by Badu for the video due to label politics. Multi-platinum.

**Phrenology** (2002) — their most experimental. Punk, rock, electronic, jazz, and hip-hop collide. "Seed 2.0" featuring Cody ChesnuTT was an alternative radio hit.

**Game Theory** (2006) — dark, politically charged, responding to Katrina and the Iraq War.

**Undun** (2011) — a concept album telling the story of a young man drawn into street life, told in reverse chronological order. Features a four-part classical suite. One of the great hip-hop concept albums. The ambition — reverse chronology, classical composition, novelistic character development — is unmatched.

**...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin** (2014) — their darkest, most challenging work. 33 minutes. Explores nihilism and systemic racism.

They became the Tonight Show house band in 2009 (Late Night) and moved with Fallon to the Tonight Show in 2014. Fans worried it would dilute them. Instead, they used the platform to keep making ambitious records and introduce millions of viewers to hip-hop musicianship. Financial stability allowed artistic risk-taking.

## Open Mike Eagle

The anxious, self-aware, absurdist hip-hop I didn't know I needed.

**Dark Comedy** (2014) on Mello Music Group was the breakthrough. Rap as stand-up comedy, but the kind that comes from anxiety and depression. "I used to wanna rap like Jay-Z / Now I feel more like one of his 99 problems."

**Brick Body Kids Still Daydream** (2017) is his masterpiece. A concept album about the demolition of the Robert Taylor Homes, a Chicago public housing project where his aunt lived. The album anthropomorphizes the building — imagines its dreams and memories. "My Auntie's Building" is direct and devastating. "Legendary Iron Hood" treats the building like a superhero. It demonstrates how "art rap" can be deeply political and emotionally devastating while maintaining wit.

**Anime, Trauma and Divorce** (2020) directly addresses the end of his marriage, mental health, and his love of anime as a coping mechanism. Raw. "Asa's Broccoli" about parenting during divorce.

**Component System with the Auto Reverse** (2022) returned to a more playful, boom-bap influenced sound. Features collaborations with Diamond D, Madlib, Quelle Chris.

He emerged from the **Project Blowed/Good Life Cafe** open-mic tradition in LA — same scene as Busdriver and Aceyalone. He helped popularize the term "art rap." His **What Had Happened Was** podcast does deep-dive conversations about specific albums — episodes with El-P, Prince Paul, Phonte, Kool Keith. His TV show **The New Negroes** on Comedy Central combined stand-up and music. He was central to the **Hellfyre Club** collective in LA alongside Busdriver, Milo, and Nocando.

## Danny Brown

Chaos with perfect timing. The most distinctive voice in hip-hop — literally. The way he switches between that high-pitched manic voice and the deep, introspective delivery is like two different rappers sharing one body.

**XXX** (2011) — his breakthrough. Side A is manic, drugged-out hedonism. Side B is the devastating aftermath. "30" is the pivot — Danny turns 30 and confronts mortality and addiction. Deep voice, introspective, devastating: "Told my mama I would turn it around / Gave her my word, this was 2006 / 30 years old, still ain't shit." The structural concept — euphoria then devastation — anticipated mainstream hip-hop's later willingness to engage with addiction honestly.

**Atrocity Exhibition** (2016) on Warp Records is his masterpiece and one of the most important experimental hip-hop albums of the 2010s. Named after the Joy Division song (itself named after the J.G. Ballard novel). The production is noisy, industrial — elements of punk, noise rock, techno, and psychedelia. Produced by Paul White, Black Milk, Evian Christ. "Really Doe" featuring Kendrick, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt is a posse cut for the ages. "Ain't It Funny" is a song about addiction set to a music video where Danny is tortured by a sitcom audience — the juxtaposition of bright production with devastating content is the album's thesis. "Downward Spiral" is named after Nine Inch Nails.

Why Atrocity Exhibition matters: While the mainstream moved toward trap minimalism, Danny made an album that was dense, abrasive, and genre-defying. The high-pitched voice became a vehicle for manic desperation rather than party energy. The deep voice carried genuine devastation. It proved experimental hip-hop could be emotionally resonant, not just intellectually interesting.

**uknowhatimsayin¿** (2019) — Q-Tip served as executive producer. Shorter, more accessible, funnier. Danny called it his "stand-up comedy album." "3 Tearz" featuring Run The Jewels. "Negro Spiritual" featuring JPEGMAFIA.

**Quaranta** (2023) — the title means "forty" in Italian. Deeply reflective. Sobriety, aging, looking back. Produced largely by JPEGMAFIA. The deep voice dominates. His most emotionally mature work.

Danny Brown is inseparable from Detroit. His music references the city's economic collapse, the drug culture, Motown, techno, J Dilla's legacy, scrap metal culture. He's the most important rapper to emerge from Detroit since Eminem, but represents a completely different side of the city.

## The Wider Underground

**billy woods** and **Armand Hammer** are making some of the most important hip-hop right now. woods maintains anonymity, rarely shows his face. His writing is dense, literary, globally informed — he grew up between America and Africa. **Hiding Places** (2019, produced by Kenny Segal) was a breakthrough. **Aethiopes** (2022, produced by Preservation) draws on ancient history and colonialism. **Maps** (2023) features Danny Brown and Aesop Rock. Armand Hammer's **Haram** (2021, produced by The Alchemist) brought the underground's most uncompromising duo together with one of hip-hop's most respected producers.

**Ka** was a New York firefighter who quietly made some of the most poetic rap ever recorded. Self-released everything, hand-delivered physical copies in NYC. **Honor Killed the Samurai** (2016) uses Bushido code as metaphor for street code. His delivery is whispered, deliberate — almost ambient production that puts all focus on the words. He wrote in longhand and revised obsessively. He passed in October 2024. A profound loss.

**Roc Marciano** brought grimy, minimal street rap back before Griselda existed. **Marcberg** (2010) revived East Coast mafioso rap in a minimalist framework — sparse production, no hooks, painterly detail. He essentially created the blueprint Griselda would popularize.

**JPEGMAFIA** is doing things with production that shouldn't work but absolutely do. Glitchy, abrasive, incorporating noise and pop and punk. **Veteran** (2018) is staggering — samples appear and disappear, beats shift mid-song, pop melodies collide with harsh noise. He can make anything.

**Quelle Chris** is consistently one of the most creative voices in underground hip-hop. Jazz-influenced production, philosophical themes, warmth and humor. **Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often** (2017) is affirming in a way hip-hop rarely is. **Guns** (2019) is a concept album about guns in all their metaphorical and literal forms.

**Milo/R.A.P. Ferreira** is rap for people who read philosophy. References Wittgenstein and Gertrude Stein alongside everyday observations. **Purple Moonlight Pages** (2020) was recorded in a single weekend with live jazz musicians. Free-associative, literary, warm.

**Homeboy Sandman** has an effortless conversational flow that makes complex rhyme schemes sound like he's just talking. Technical precision disguised as casual conversation.

**Atmosphere** — Slug's storytelling on **God Loves Ugly** (2002) and **When Life Gives You Lemons** (2008) was formative for me. "Yesterday" — where "yesterday" is gradually revealed to be about his father's death — is masterful narrative construction. Ant's soulful production is the warm foundation. They were the gateway drug for many listeners entering the underground.

**Brother Ali** — powerful, soulful voice. "Forest Whitaker" about self-acceptance became an underground anthem. "Uncle Sam Goddamn" was genuinely dangerous in the Bush era.

**Eyedea** was a battle rap genius who died way too young — accidental overdose at 28. Won both the Blaze Battle on HBO and Scribble Jam freestyle competitions. His philosophical bent — wrestling with consciousness, perception, existentialism — set him apart from everyone.

**Busdriver** raps faster and more intricately than almost anyone. From the Project Blowed/Good Life scene in LA. A vocalist as much as a rapper — he sings, screams, and pushes boundaries of what an MC can do.

**Sage Francis** brought spoken word energy into hip-hop. Won the 2000 Scribble Jam freestyle battle. **Personal Journals** (2002) was emo-rap before that term existed. Founded Strange Famous Records.

## The Labels That Matter

**Definitive Jux** (1999-2010) — El-P's label. Ground zero for experimental hip-hop in the 2000s. Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, RJD2. The most important underground label of its era.

**Rhymesayers** (1995-present) — Slug co-founded it. The most successful independent hip-hop label in America. Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Eyedea & Abilities, Aesop Rock (later career). Built the Minneapolis scene into something national. Their Soundset Festival was the premier underground hip-hop festival.

**Stones Throw** (1996-present) — Peanut Butter Wolf's label. Madvillain, J Dilla, Madlib. Where hip-hop meets crate-digging obsession. Madvillainy alone secures their place in history.

**Backwoodz Studioz** — billy woods and Vordul Mega's label. The most important underground label of the 2020s. Armand Hammer, ELUCID, ShrapKnel, AKAI SOLO. DIY ethos with critical acclaim that rivals major labels.

**Mello Music Group** — Open Mike Eagle, Quelle Chris, Apollo Brown, Oddisee. Consistently excellent. Quietly one of the best underground labels going.

**Hellfyre Club** — LA collective circa 2012-2016. Open Mike Eagle, Busdriver, Milo, Nocando. Hyper-literate, conceptually ambitious, lo-fi. A specific moment in LA alternative rap.

## Details

- **Category:** Notes
- **Tags:** music, hip-hop, underground, aesop-rock, el-p, run-the-jewels, the-roots, open-mike-eagle, danny-brown, rap

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