Released: September 18, 2001

Songwriter: Aesop Rock

Producer: Blockhead

[Hook]
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas

[Verse 1]
My kitchen sink leaks like you're itching to speak your secret
'bout the world spins yet nobody's pledged allegiance and why
His beaming smile knew a private agony that burns
And when the children met divinity I sat to watch the merge
It goes pandemonium live
Ya'll mutha fuckers stand up. Volunteer tantrums while your plan sunk, vivid
Play your sympathy card, son of misery classed with
The basket cases is in a classless matrix with elastic patience
I zig in a zagging only zone
Draggin a bag of lonely poem remnants
Short of breath like you're short of fresh
You're a portable mess
Carpetbagger spearheading tear peddeling pretentious art critics, orphans
Trying to dismiss those pioneering their fortunes
You're a spectacle
Pushin for pedagogue lacin up paper weights walkin on stilts talking
You touched the hand of God and I'm like
What are all these evils that plagued the hearts of man
By sweet talking border patrol until they fold and let them in
You got your life in a basket before you could say instant classic
Like the king of the mountain requires a boost
I'll bury the hook in my belly just to volunteer at live bait clinics
For the thrill of 9 great mimics with 18 bloody lips, spittin
Beanstalk, chalking outlines before figures fly
Walking uphill trying to get down
Prominent ghost town litigate battle pitch darkness
When the light switch hits the artistry circuit board breaker
Servicing the greater half of nature
See money go wild shook when the exploitation incubated lovely
Warmingly piggy leader colony to comfort
Numb enough to deny the sin pins and evil needles even punctured
Till he woke to find his tourniquet still functions

[Hook]
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas

[Verse 2]
Burn burn em mostly
Stuck unplucking plumage out the poultry
Soaking in bulk on a sofa with ductape upholstery
Dirty doc stellar space medic
Stoned by the commoners for glowing
Psuedo floaters buy them beats till bloated
Happy trail hitchhikers guide to spanning oblivion
Complete with a thankless 9-5 chapter
You can sign your life after the fact
Wicked soldiers pickin with buddy system
Logistic motors like Noah's ark ticket holders, pivot
All in a days breath
I guess
Sandman here to foreshadow a day when television run over baboon heart transplants
Sketching a glass partially empty till their hand cramps
With an iceman's chance in Dante's dreamland to stand where the fans lamp
But maybe I do
Yeah yeah maybe it's all over
Maybe I won the game before the machine ate my quarter
I mean absorbing attention's a must
You don't wanna be overlooked
Yeah but you don't wanna be looked over too much
One up for the dashed hopes of fifty fishermen who crashed boats
And the angels who never hit bad notes when harmonizing
I'm an armor-plated farmer
I'm an archer rising with a drawn bow
For the karma where the bulls eye clings and argues
Dense, spreads like new names at the writers bench
Either you drink it or sink it, coz there ain't no sitting on the fence
You make me chuckle child, it's Hell's kitchen now, miss
Recognize your life is merely bait for bigger fish

[Hook]
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas
I don't shrug. I study the ramifications of my shovel
Loving the consequence of uprooting the jungle
I'm hugging the cycle of Gemini's duplicate tenants for muting the puzzle
I don't budge the motives
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas

[Outro]
Ugh, encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas
Encased inside the gauntlet's hunger quotas

Aesop Rock

Born Ian Matthias Bavitz, Aesop Rock was a pioneer in the new wave of underground hip-hop in New York City during the early 2000s. Regarding his name, he

I acquired the name Aesop from a movie I had acted in with some friends. It was my character’s name and it sort of stuck. The rock part came later just from throwing it in rhymes.

Aesop has a solid discography with 8 albums spanning over the course of 20+ years. He started in 1999 by selling his first album, Music for Earthworms, through his website while he was a student at Boston University. He has since gained a cult following and been named one of the best artists of the 2000s. His most successful albums are None Shall Pass, Skelethon, and The Impossible Kid which peaked on the Billboard 200 at #50, #21, and #30 respectively.