The elusive Aesop Rock is back with a new video for “Rogue Wave,” the Rhymesayers MC’s first new single since last year’s Malibu Ken project and first solo single since 2018’s “Klutz.”
Directed by frequent collaborator Rob Shaw, the visual pieces together several of Aes’ own black and white sketches into one continuous body of work — much like the song itself.
“Rogue Wave feels like a long journal entry to me – perhaps in the vein of ‘Hot Dogs’ and ‘Klutz,’” Aesop said in a press release. “I really enjoy skipping the hook entirely. It doesn’t always work but when it does, it just feels right. To me, this song is a small boat lost at sea, rowing for hours, days, losing all track of time and direction — 360 degrees of nothing but ocean.”
Aes continued, “I’ve been a little timid over the years to showcase my own drawings, probably because I’ve been out of practice, and also because people know me for my music. That said, I’ve been drawing a fair amount in recent years and finally decided to collect a lot of the images together for a music video.
“My longtime collaborator and friend Rob Shaw pieced them together in a way that feels similar to the song – an uninterrupted stream of information.”
In a recent Instagram post, Aes revealed a portion of the proceeds from the song will be donated to the family of legendary skateboarding videographer Kurt Hayashi, who passed away suddenly earlier this week. He directed the Aesop Rock video for “Hot Dogs” and was the creative visionary behind numerous video campaigns for companies such as Nike, Brooks, Stumptown Coffee and Converse. He’s also contributed to several campaigns for the Portland Trailblazers.
“It feels strange promoting music in the wake of the event in my previous post – however a portion of the proceeds of the this release will be going to the Hayashi family,” he captioned the post. “Additionally, 2 portraits of Kurt are featured in the video.”
Check out the “Rogue Wave” video up top.
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