Sole is a strange man. You see, you either like Sole, or you don’t because there is no in between area. The constant war of statements and questions such as “Anticon is for nerds” and “Who is better, Rhymesayers or Anticon?” remains within the ears of the veteran underground heads. Waste of time if you ask me. Just listen to what you like and shut up.
Live From Rome sees Sole going back to the basics, which he has somewhat skipped in the past few releases (Mansbestfriend series). Before I can break it down for you, it should be a “must” to listen to Sole classics such as “Learning to Walk”, “Bottle of Humans”, and “Selling Live Water.” Get a taste of those albums, and you will see that Sole is a very versatile MC that not only brings the deepness, but also has microphone skills going faster and more articulate than Twista while protesting against the system at the same time.
The album starts off strong when Sole states that his music is nothing but cheap entertainment while giving props to legendary groups such as Cold Crush and Freestyle Fellowship. We then move onto “Self Inflicted Wounds” (which is a very dark cut) we hear Sole saying “shoot me in my back and stab me in my sleep.” No sane man can have such words. Even though it is a solo effort, Live From Rome has another star on the album, and that is the producer Odd Nosdam. On the track “Sin Carne”, we see a return to that old boom bap style of drums with a loud sample of something that doesn’t sound like anything normal. Trust me, you’ll understand when you hear it. Also, the track “Crisis” consists of a killer violin sample followed by those loud drums with Sole saying “If you didn’t get sick of hearing me talk shit about the government, people, ignorance, marginalization, alienation, where we gonna take them this time? this is for my video” and goes on rapping furiously about the Anzacs, diplomats, portable TV’s, and European cocktail parties. By far one of the most creative tracks on the record.
The highlight of the album is track #16, “Theme”. Here, Sole talks in a sarcastic way about “whether you like it or not, somebody in China died for what you own” and “overweight fathers wonder why our children stay stoned?!” on top of a very sweet guitar loop that would make the Rosenberg Trio get turned on. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg concerning the many quotables that can be pulled from that track.
Hate it or love it, this underdog is once again on top with his newest release. It gets a bit too busy at times, with tracks like “Dumb this Down” but Anticon listeners are used to that and should not be bothered by it. Sage Francis brought a breathe of fresh air into the repetitive underground scene, and Sole continues that journey with Live From Rome. This album is definitely recommended to the open minded heads who like to protest to the “1% who controls the water, money, and throne.”
More Info: http://www.anticon.com
Tracklist:
01 Cheap Entertainment
02 Self Inflicted Wounds
03 Predictions
04 Sin Carne
05 Entalude
06 Locust Farm
07 Every Single One Of Us
08 A Typical
09 Crisis
10 Manifesto 232
11 Banks of Marble
12 Atheist Jihad
13 Dumb This Down
14 Imsotired
15 On Martyrdom
16 Theme
17 Drive By Detournment
