Aesop Rock & Rob Sonic are Hail Mary Mallon
The Constellation Room
1/10/15
Underground hip-hop lovers stood shoulder to shoulder Saturday night at The Constellation Room for supergroup, Hail Mary Mallon. Emcee/producers Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic hit the stage and immediately began to spit rhymes like ear candy as DJ Abilities spun the instrumental beat creating an art form in-and-of-itself. “Mother fuckers, what's good?” Aesop screamed into the mic in the midst of performing their first track “Jonathan” off their 2014 album Bestiary.
The group has been making music since 2009 with a name that pays homage to Typhoid Mary, the asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever who infected over 50 people in NYC during the 1900s. With a seamless transition into their second track, “Krill,” a feeling of an underground hip-hop scene began to infect the room. Aesop wore a yellow T-shirt with a black bat centered across the chest reading, “Zero Friend.” Tattoos covered his arms that flailed to the beat as he moved his head back and forth in an ostrich like motion.
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Next up was “Citronella” a track from 2007's None Shall Pass, an album that was instrumental in putting Aesop Rock on the map. A cloud of smoke seeped into the crowd, the sweet yet skunky combo of e-cigarette's and marijuana. Rob Sonic wearing a misfits T-shirt and blue bandana, across his head, performed “Alice in Thunderdome” the title track off his 2014 album. Impressively, a good half of the sold out crowd knew every word to the wide frame of music the group dipped from, a contrast to the other half of the crowd with shacked eyes and motionless bodies.
When the iconic and haunting beat for “Simon Says (Get The Fuck Up)” hit, the crowd went apeshit. The DJ flung his long locks with his face buried in the turntable, Aesop pumped his legs back and forth as Rob Sonic downed his drink. Next Aesop spit a 90 second flow, a cappella, a brilliant show case of his talent. Before the energy could drop the group hit us with “Daylight” a favorited track off his 2001 album Labor Days. Rob Sonic explains that the next track is about growing up in New York in the '80s, holding the mic with his right hand he put his left hand to his chest, exposing a gold ring hanging from his pinky finger as he performed “Space Cadet.”
Aesop performs “Coma” and upon completion looks over at Rob to laugh at the amount of sweat the two have produced, soaking their T-shirts. “I can't even pull up my pants they're so wet!” Rob says. The two have an unbelievable chemistry performing together, a true nod to why they have been so successful in creating music together for nearly a decade. They perform the iconic “None Shall Pass” and two last songs from Hail Mary Mallon before exiting the stage.
The crowd chants “Mary!” and Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, DJ Abilities and special guest Homeboy Sandman return. They finish off the nearly two-hour show by performing “Homemade Mummy” and “Big Bang.” Shaking as many hands as they can reach in the audience, they humbly thank their fans and disappear behind the black side-door. All that's left is the album art of a futuristic sea-urchin facing an audience that shuffles out into the rain.
Set List
Jonathan
Krill
Citronella (Aesop Rock)
ZZZ Top (Aesop Rock)
Fast Cars (Aesop Rock)
No Regrets
Alice In Thunderdome (Rob Sonic)
The Soup
Catacomb Kids (Aesop Rock)
Whales
Tetra (Aesop Rock)
Simon Says (Get The Fuck Up) (Pharoache Monch Remix)
King Cone
Labor (Aesop Rock)
Daylight (Aesop Rock)
Space Cadet (Rob Sonic)
Zero Dark Thirty (Aesop Rock)
Used Cars
Coma (Aesop Rock)
Killjoy (Rob Sonic feat. Aesop Rock)
Crows 2 (Aesop Rock)
None Shall Pass (Aesop Rock)
Dollywood
Kiln
Encore
Homemade Mummy
Big Bang
See also:
The Top 10 Rappers in OC
10 More of OC's Best Rappers
Top Five Female Emcees in OC
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