Aesop Rock: Bazooka Tooth LP

2003's Bazooka Tooth served as the fourth full-length album from hip hop artist Aesop Rock. For the first time, the majority of the production was handled by Aesop himself, although long-term collaborator Blockhead contributes three tracks and one is provided by Definitive Jux label boss El-P. Significant vocal guest appearances are made by El-P and fellow Def Jux labelmates Party Fun Action Committee and Mr. Lif as well as by 1990s Bronx hip-hop duo Camp Lo. There are also brief vocal cameos (credited on the sleeve as "Additional Trash Talking and Malarchy" by Cannibal Ox, S.A. Smash, and Murs. Scratching is handled by DJ Cip One of Cannibal Ox and DJ Pawl of Hangar 18. Much of the instrumentals for the introduction track, "Bazooka Tooth," were done by Jer of Party Fun Action Committee using standard pots and pans. Pitchfork called Bazooka Tooth "another strong outing from one of underground hip-hop's most talented, thanks in no small part to its unprecedented wealth of lyrical depth and individual production style." Thomas Quinlan of Exclaim! commented that "Aesop drops abstract poetry, heartfelt stories and new millennial b-boyisms in his gruff monotone flow." It reached No. 44 on Billboard's Hip-Hop Albums chart, and No. 112 of the Billboard 200.