Arguably the greatest white, jewish rapper out there is Aesop Rock, an underground hip-hop musician from New York by way of San Francisco. Not to be confused with ASAP Rocky, Rock — or Aes as he’s colloquially referred to — is one the most lyrical, perceptive, and, above all abstract rappers in “the game”.

Ian Bavitz’ rapper persona, Aesop Rock, reminds me of the Aesop fables I read as a child. Aesop was a Greek storyteller, who used animals as the basis for the morals in many of his fables. In Rock’s songs, animals are objectified, personified, and used as the basis for his own rap equivalent of morals. For example, in his song “Pigs”, Rock uses those greasy four-legged farm animals as an extended metaphor for greedy businessmen. He raps: “So when the piranhas honor New York/My daddy long legs dangled and mangled for sport/And while I bring in every dink in the kingdom with open wings/It all boils down to them shit-soaked pigs.”

Clearly, his abstract lyricism is one that’s difficult to follow, and nearly impossible given the speed and unique cadence of his delivery. In fact, if I had one complaint about Aes’ music, it’s that his lyrics, while relatively easy to understand, are so far-out and abstract that it seemingly requires too much effort to try to comprehend what he’s talking about.

But when you do figure it out, the message is usually pretty cool. Aes has proven himself to be an apt social critic. In one of my favorite songs, “11:35”, Rock paints a series of vignettes highlighting people down on their luck, with no real intertwining theme. However, on second listen, we hear, “At exactly 11:35pm on January 21st I fell asleep sound/At exactly 11:35pm on Januray 21st some shit went down.”

And that’s when you recognize the true humbleness of Aesop Rock. So unconsumed by his own fame, Rock acknowledges that while, at 11:35 he’s perfectly happy falling asleep, the world goes on without him, and a lot of bad stuff is happening. In one socially critical verse, Rock tells the tail of Jose, an immigrant construction worker. When he falls to his death, Rock raps: “Slipped off the ledge and fell into a machine/Another dead immigrant, that’s the American Dream.”

Just like the Aesop fables I read as a child, the music of Aesop Rock abstractly provides social commentary: a feat equally impressive and enjoyable.