In the world’s tumultuous times more than a few people have made the prediction that an apocalypse is coming. But for the Denver-based revolutionary, experimental rapper Sole the end of days isn’t something coming in the future. Sole’s latest album Let Them Eat Sand presupposes that the apocalypse is, in fact, already here.
In a statement that introduces the rap pioneer’s latest release, Sole wrote “10,000 years of the failed experiment called civilization. 80 years til cities start disappearing into the ocean. 15 years til the Oglala aquifer is depleted and America’s breadbasket is a desert. 1,421 people killed by cops in 2017. 1 year of Donald Trump.”
It’s easy to attack Trump these days, he’s made himself an easy target, but Sole isn’t spitting his sharp-as-nails, targeted rhymes at just the obvious. Let Them Eat Sand isn’t picking sides based on something as ridiculous as political parties. Sole steps back to look at the bigger problems of the world and his firebrand of anarchistic hip-hop inhabits a space somewhere between the dance floor and the riot line.
Sole, who helped to found Anticon Records in 1998 has released over a dozen studio albums. With his early career pedigree and his more current revolutionary leanings, it’s not a surprise Sole is so inherently political on Let Them Eat Sand, but what’s amazing is his diversity of topics. From big pharma to bio-engineering, bankers and CEOs, overdevelopment and overpopulation, as well as dozens of other political, cultural and societal woes, Let Them Eat Sand doesn’t paint a rosy picture by any means, but it’s not supposed to either. Its purpose is to awaken, educate, infuriate and ultimately inspire listeners to “open every cage.” “No gesture, doesn’t make a ripple.”