5 out of 5

Label: Rhymesayers

Produced by: Aesop Rock

Listening to this cold, I took a guess from the lyrical themes – Aesop self-reflecting on his come-up; obsessing (wordily) over the effort-expending clumsiness that’s brought him into this clumsy present – that “Klutz” was an Impossible Kid-era track. My guess is late by a couple years (Klutz is 2018; Kid was 2016), but it’s still a nice half-step between Kid’s deep-dive analyses and the old-man spirituality rants of Spirit World Field Guide, and makes for something truly blessed: Rock’s rambles are followable and relatable enough to not need a dictionary, but still so excitingly illustrative and creative that you get it, but then you stop and think through it again and get it with a smile.

As to the beat, appreciably highlighted on the instrumental B-side, we have some commentary suggesting Aesop had this beat around for a bit, and it does seem of his more pared down years, prior to Kid. Now, I love the beats on Kid, but there’s something nostalgic about AR’s classic drops before that album, which latched on to more slow-roll, organic beats. Klutz gives us that vibe.