"Face facts, still wicked as Aleister Crowley" - Ab-Soul, "Threatening Nature"
Ab-Soul has referenced a man named Aleister Crowley numerous times over the course of his career. Crowley was an important figure in occult, third eye matters in the early 20th century. He is the founder of the religion Thelema, whose core doctrine -- "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will" -- was the inspiration for the title of Ab-Soul's new album. HNHH recently had the chance to speak to Soul about Crowley's influence on his music.
"I'm all about getting to the root of things," he said, "and Mr. Crowley has been instrumental throughout music since before I was born. Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, there's a lot of great artists that are the building blocks for even hip hop. So me understanding that and digging into his story and understanding why he's been so relevant and influential in music culture, I think it was important for me to reinstill that if you missed that part of the culture of music in general. This is beyond hip hop."
"At first sight, he's the wickedest man alive," Soul continued. "But if you dig into the poetry, and you read between the lines... a lot of things will make more sense to you."
Watch the full piece on Crowley below.
Also: watch Ab-Soul speak on the making of the DWTW album cover.
