El-P Discusses His New Album, Brush With Death

Indie hip-hop producer-rapper El-P, who founded the Definitive Jux label (home to Cannibal Ox, RJD2, and Aesop Rock), gave us an exclusive preview of his new album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead, which includes collaborations with a slew of hip heavyweights including Trent Reznor, Cat Power's Chan Marshall and Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Zavala. The Mars Volta frontman sings on a track called "Tasmanian Pain Coaster," Marshall appears on "Poisonville Kids," and Reznor's tortured vocals are subtlely mixed into the dense soup of "Flyentology." El-P (Jaime Melone) tells us he wrote the song after a plane engine exploded during a recent flight home from Costa Rica. "Everyone was freaking out, people were praying, some people seemed ready to go," he tells us. "I found myself coming up with my own brand of religion called 'Flyentology.' "

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Song Stories

“Weird”

Hanson | 1997

Accomplished tunesmith Desmond Child co-wrote "Weird" with the three brothers that make up Hanson. Credited for dozens of cuts, including songs by Kiss, Cher, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, Child told Rolling Stone that "Weird" holds a special place in his heart, "because it's about being different--and I grew up poor, I grew up being Latin, I grew up being gay, and now I'm fat!" The song was included on Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere, which sold more than ten million units.

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