Released: September 5, 2000

Songwriter: Aesop Rock

Producer: Aesop Rock

[Hook]
No more pencils, no more books
I built the city out one brick
It had a mayor and a crook
I made the crook stab the mayor then slay himself in the guilt
I stole the brick back and migrated east, now, let's build

[Verse 1]
Every tenderfoot cadet bettered slit-throat percentages
Chicken penmanship tied the thirteenth knot (Hangman)
I arrange panoramics of a placid cataloguing where wild dogs sing tailor-made lullabies tried by my offspring
I'll bring the butterflies and he can bring the centipedes
And she'll bring the cadavers set 'em free and let 'em feed
The deviltry penciled me in, but I slept thick through my alarm clock
Silly Billy hid in the barn while farmer charmed the crops
And I'm a warden
My tongue is full of glass
Because I promised my friend I'd chew up the bottle
If he truly drank the poison
I'm alienating the mating dance of the higher, ire-based, tired-faced, miser-made God clones
We can manufacture medicine
Patent the five digit slide clock the essentials in (I'll be a bill collector)
My destiny's resting with red worms chewin' off the carcass anyway
Let me slay artists for tips in the penny tray
By the way if that diamond ring don't shine
That's cause I bought it at the five-and-dime but don't neglect the sentiment
I'll pedal my tricycle through the F-5 logistics of a twister
Soaked in the religions of a nit-picker

[Hook]

[Verse 2]
If I botched the operation I apologize (Sorry)
The err's rooted in carbon
I'm but a mortal archer parked in amber waves of starlets
I'm fresh out of Gepetto's woodwork asylum
See the frame, wire-bound knuckles
Let a tug of the puppeteer steer my hustle
Now when a page becomes a squire, be engaged, clap your wings
When a noble's demoted hope it don't sucker-punch the colony
But when the catapult releases lease your claims behind the bunker
And fasten stinger pageant results to the public eye (Glory hunter)
Is it genuine enough to feel, baby felon?
Negotiate comradery or wilt
My dismal little little loom
Purged urgent with dirty dominion monitor boxes
Hovering inches 'bove pertinent urchin toxins
(Now) You ain't excused from table side
Till the dinner plate's spotless
Slurping' liquid happy citizen enhancer
I got this slicky sycamore handshake
That mimics digit splinter entry
Thereby filtering citizens tin man prior to axe descending (Tight)
Cats know the ambiance, calm beyond comparison
Captain passive spring loaded serenity
I'm trying to give this city acupuncture
Shovin' one-way pins in subway systems
Standing up where I'm landing', now that a runway victim (Push, push)
Nature's gone batty, spreading spore legitimate
Slice the bishop, sever the ties, splinter the kinship
See every now and again I love life but hate to admit it
Cause it spreads the jinx upon a sleeping cynic

[Hook]
No more pencils, no more books
I built the city out one brick
I had a mayor and a crook
I made the crook stab the mayor then slay himself in the guilt
I stole the brick back and--

[Verse 3]
I'm quadruple six plus scruples category mayhem stems
From one overlooked scene including loopholes
When Christ studies the return ramifications
I'll burn the campus to impress him
Then rock like Medusa glances
Who ran the final mile before the blanks blown?
Home alone sipping beetle juice
Just to numb it, then shimmy the needles loose
I built a castle out of fifty-two cards
Plus jokers, wit, and image
Modern theory charges while remaining harnessed to the vintage
I'm valid hypothesis honoring Occam's Razor
With a seam sewn via fatigued knuckle work (Labor)
I've patched the little leakage in the shell around my greed
In case Tommy Turbulence located The Matrix that impedes
Whistle me a dirge, falcon boogie burst classic
Bastard repellent fell in haunted machines screened by similars
Got beckoned like a suicide king to the dagger surface
Due to one queen who lodged her faith inside a broken circus
Me and my stargazers from the woodwork serve the furnace
Omit the discoloring on the lung then stung the serpents
I cherish the Ferris wheel's revolutions
It's not because the ride enthralls
More simply to the fact that it still revolves
Nursed in a bracket of televis, plastics and saccharin (well)
I oppose mass panic
Thoroughbred fantasy cadets pose with a latch key demeanor
Returning to find a home vacant with no similars to compare days with
Let's build!

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.