Aesop Rock is a rapper, songwriter and producer hailing from Long Island, New York, U.S, who was born on the 5th of June, 1976. Since his debut in 1996 he has released eight studio albums and six E.P’s of his dense, literate hip-hop.

Born Ian Matthias Bavitz in Northport, Long Island, Aesop Rock was being taken into the heart of New York City by his family by the time he was nine years old. Because of that he was exposed to hip-hop culture just as it was coming of age, fitting, since he was as well at the time. This had a profound effect on him, and very soon afterwards he became an avid fan of the acts that influence him to this day like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, KMD, and Run DMC. Inspired, Bavitz began rapping in the early 90’s, combining his early musical experience playing piano and bass with his newfound love of hip-hop, and soon afterwards bought his own sampler.

Bavitz was in college when he made his first attempts at creating hip-hop, By 1997 he’d made his first full-length record “Music For Earthworms”, and became something of a pioneer by being one of the first independent artists to use a grassroots, internet following to find success. He created his own website, and sold over 300 copies of “Music For Earthworms” through that and MP3.com, a web portal popular around that time. The success he found with his website led him to release his first E.P “Appleseed” in 1999, which was rapturously received by the underground hip-hop community and led to interest from several record labels.

In the same year that “Appleseed” was released, Bavitz signed to the indie label Mush Records and in 2000, his label debut “Float” was released. The critical acclaim that “Float” saw got Bavitz signed to Definitive Jux to release his third album “Labor Days”, and for the first time in his career his critical acclaim started to match his commercial success. “Labor Days” was the first release of his to chart on the Billboard charts, hitting number 15 on the Independent album charts. Ever since then Bavitz has continued to be one of the most critically acclaimed rappers around, with a devoted fanbase to match. He’s a true artist and as he edges toward his second decade in hip-hop, he still comes highly recommended.