Pitchfork

There's that scene in Office Space where all the white-collar Initech microserfs unleash their pent-up frustration on the fax machine, while Scarface's "No Tears" booms, "Die, motherfucker, die!" Aesop Rock has posted "Citronella", from new album None Shall Pass, to his MySpace page, and its rapidfire wordplay seems to hold similar sentiments toward the TV. The Long Island, N.Y.-born rapper also drops a "die motherfucker", then imagines radio stars rising up to "murder the medium that shot 'em 30 years before." As if that weren't clear enough, a voice adds, "Kill the television."

Produced by Rock himself, "Citronella" cracks bleak jokes over sampled horns and murky synths, plus scratching by Wiz. The rapper born Ian Matthias Bavitz delights in alliteration and clever juxtaposition-- "Cutty Sark for budding narcs"-- but for every putdown of TV weathermen, there's talk of topics like embargoes and the class divide. Before it's all over, Rock comes back for "one more, dog." Please, kids, don't start punching your TV with your bare fists.

MP3:>  Aesop Rock: "Citronella"
[from None Shall Pass, due 08/28/07 on Def Jux]