I don’t play video games. I wish I could because I remember the escape from childhood, but they just don’t keep my attention anymore. But when a video game’s creator recruits Aesop Rock to provide the soundtrack you’ve got my attention. “Rap’s most verbose MC/producer” has released a new EP of music he created to soundtrack the space-shooter game Freedom Finger, a collection of loops and beats that are featured in the game. The EP also includes three full songs with lyrics, one of which is Drums on the Wheel- a vibe-y track whose animated video brings you straight into the game.
Aesop Rock is an artist with a knack for the visual and a poetically-inclined thesaurus for a brain, and he takes you into the middle-finger-shaped spaceship at the center of the game as it travels through the void. The song sounds like the thoughts of the pilot- the loneliness and decreasing sense of self-importance, the frustration with the boss, the fear in the battles, drumming on the steering wheel in an attempt to alleviate the boredom from what must be endless hours of travel between galactic shootouts. Most rappers would’ve rhymed a blasé scene for scene description of the game and the shooting, but Aesop’s work here proves once again that he’s one of the most creative artists to touch the craft.
Music from the game Freedom Finger is out now and available on 10” vinyl through Rhymesayers Entertainment.
