Sole – Live from Rome (Anticon)
Wonderful self indulgent, semi-political rambling hiphop from one of the early Anticon members. The rhyming is damn close to spoken word and the production takes somewhat of a back seat to the vocals. Odd Nosdam does most of the production, for the most part keeping it simple. This really has the feeling of running into one of those political/social crazy people on Haight street and you realize while they are rambling on and on that they are mostly right and that you are probably the crazy one and they are the perfect reaction to this fucking mess.
1. Odd keyboard sounds and gritty sounding beats, thick bass and Sole rapping about a lot of different stuff strung together. There is a repeated chorus, “my music, my music, is cheap entertainment”.
2. Mellow with some slow keyboard sounds and quieter rhyme.
3. Short almost straight list of shitty things.
**4. FCC (one shit). Long intro about what he likes to “talk shit” about, the government, people, ignorance, alienation, etc. Straight forward beat. The chorus later in the track doesn’t seem to fit but I love it “God save the whales, a seat at the bar” over simple guitar nice bass and somewhat real sounding drums.
5. A short story, minimal music and no beats.
**6. Wonderfully dark, but hopeful melody that reminds me of some pop hit. “If you promise not to make anyone rich I’ll make you 4 foot tall and bullet proof.”
7. Quick rhyming, simple beat, and later a nice simple keyboard melody in the background.
8. Quick rambling, studio percussion and funny retro electronics. Just open the lyric book and follow along with this rant.
**9. Quick bass with lots of ranting ideas. “depression is a symptom of a society that has failed us.” And “my children will not grow up in a prison”. I really like this rant. Is “bitch” fcc? “liberty aint nothing but a lazy bitch”.
**10. “Manifesto” is a good title. The chorus is delivered flat with semi-bad singing on purpose. “I’m the new age demagogue, tiger woods is a rich man. Sweat shop kids don’t understand”. Wordy and great. Ends with lots of different samples.
11. Very real sounding drums with a big almost industrial sounding beat.
**12. FCCs (fuck) Ha silly 70s electronics and a much harsher rhyme. “will you cry when the police die” I really like this rhyme but the fucks probably mean you can’t play it.
**13. A downtemp sound in the music, guitar and busier and a great rhyme. “people join the army to pay for college. In California, residents go to college for free. What would you do? Get stoned on the weekends and go hiking, or serve for a white collar dead squad of an oil company military?”
**14. One vague fuck. Piano loop, slightly more sung with effects on the vocals. Distorted vague background vocal sample. I love this production. The vocal loop is made more obvious at the end of the track and Sole returns to his normal rap style.
**16. Sorta vegan lyrics, Simple guitar and studio sounding drums. Slow and theme is a great title. He covers a lot of what’s wrong with society. Ends quiet with almost 30 seconds of silence.
GREAT stuff!! -mph