In May 2007, I posted an Aesop Rock Mini-Sampler Backtrack. R.A. The Rugged Man is not Aesop Rock. In fact, The Rugged Man is to Aesop Rock as turds are to brownies. Aesop is a cerebral underground hip-hop lyricist. The Rugged Man is often filthy and rudely vapid, which should come as no surprise given he holds Kook G. Rap as one of his primary influences. He’s the seedier side of underground hip hop and is not for the easily offended or those of delicate constitution.
And The Rugged Man is one of my favorite emcees.
With only two full-length albums made a decade apart (Night Of The Bloody Apes in 1994 – never released – and Die Rugged Man Die in 2004), it says a helluvalot about his skills that R.A. is as well as known as he actually is among the hip hop community.
To introduce R.A. The Rugged Man to the uninitiated, three tracks from between 1999-2006 for your consideration. First, “Stanley Kubrick” (Soundbombing 2 1999). Next, “Lessons” (Die Rugged Man Die 2004), a capsule biography without unnecessary apologies and one of only two singles from his only full release. Finally, a superb example of his explosive skills at internal rhyming in his verse for Jedi Mind Tricks’ “Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story” (Servants In Heavan, Kings In Hell, 2006), the story of his father in the first person.
For those possessing the aforementioned delicate constitution, only “Stanley Kubrick” contains anything remotely as crude as The Rugged Man has been known to spit.
R.A. The Rugged Man – Stanley Kubrick
R.A. The Rugged Man – Lessons
Jedi Mind Tricks – Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story (ft R.A. The Rugged Man)
