The Bay Area collective, known as Anticon, has recently been blowing up in the "underground" world of hip-hop. The crew, comprised of artists from all over the United States and Canada, has been led by the thriving determination of its leading man, Tim Holland. Known as "Sole" to his fans, Tim has recently dropped his first LP for Anticon, entitled Bottle of Humans.
Sole (Anticon Collective)
Bottle of Humans
Anticon Records
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The original release of this album was delayed because of Internet bootlegging. Sole then reworked about half of the album, and re-released it six months later. The reworking of the project brought the album from what would have been one of the top 10 hip-hop albums of the year to one of the best hip-hop albums of all time.
Sole is joined by his diverse sounding labelmates; Why?, Alias, Sixtoo, Dose One and the pedestrian, all of whom hold the level of quality on the mic put forth by Sole. While Sole's style, flow, delivery and voice all put him toward the top of the world's greatest emcee's list, it is his lyrics and passion that make him what is possibly the future's most important hip-hop artist. Sole uses sarcasm, sincerity, symbolism and abstraction to express himself through his extremely poetic rhymes.
An eclectic collection of beats provided by 14 different producers serves as an interesting and complex backdrop that compliments Sole's vocal styling and delivery. Simply put, the sounds on this album are nothing like anything that the average listener has heard before. Most of the beats have a very electronic feel to them, while others, such as "Center City," produced by Anticon wonder-child JEL, will have the listener baffled for days.
Understanding Bottle of Human's greatness takes time. Sole's originality in comparison to major label artists might throw the everyday listener off quite a bit. After taking the time to sit down and listen to this disc, many listeners might rethink their perception of the artistic quality in hip-hop music.
An album as different as Bottle of Humans must be heard in order to understand its significance. Through this album, Sole is telling the world to stop overlooking hip-hop as an art form. Many have tried to prove hip-hop to be a universally respectable genre; few have succeeded as well as Sole.
