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Sole (hip hop artist)

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For the other hip-hop emcee with a similar name, see Solé.
Sole
Birth nameTim Holland
Also known asMan's Best Friend
OriginNew York City, New York, U.S.A.
GenresExperimental hip hop, Hip hop, Political Rap
Years active1992–present
LabelsBlack Canyon Records
Anticon Records
Fake Four Inc
Morr Music
6months
45 Below
Websitewww.soleone.org

Tim Holland, known as Sole, is an alternative hip hop artist and a co-founder of the Anticon collective/label. Sole is known for his dense and often dark stream-of-consciousness style of rapping. His verses are often filled with abstraction, metaphor and sarcasm while avoiding or deconstructing traditional hip hop topics and cliches. While mostly known for his rapping, Sole is also a producer and has released an instrumental album under the alias Man's Best Friend (styled mansbestfriend). Sole is also part of the group Sole and the Skyrider Band.

Biography

Sole recorded his first demo in 1992. At age 15, Sole assembled group called "45 Below Records", which included fellow rapper Alias and Moodswing9 as the DJ (then known as "Cuz the Highlander"). The group released the album Mad Skillz and Unpaid Billz under the name Northern Exposure, selling more than 300 copies. In 1997, Sole, with JD Walker & Moodswing9, released a 12" under the name "Live Poets", garnering college radio play and selling a few thousand copies.

In early 1998, Sole and rapper Pedestrian coined the name "Anticon" and together started a collectively-owned record label under the name. In 1998, Sole, along with Alias and Doseone, traveled to Minneapolis and, together with Slug of Atmosphere, recorded the first official Anticon release: the album Deep Puddle Dynamics. Sole and Pedestrian moved Anticon to California, settling in the Oakland area.

In 2000 Sole released his first official solo album through Anticon, titled Bottle of Humans. This was followed up in 2003 with Selling Live Water. Later that year, Sole moved to Barcelona, Spain. Two years later, after living abroad, Sole released Live from Rome in 2005. Soon after, he moved back to the United States, relocating to Flagstaff, Arizona.

In 2007 Sole, along with the band Skyrider, formed a group called "Sole & The Skyrider Band". They released a self-titled album the same year. In 2009 the album Plastique was released. The upcoming album, Hello Cruel World, will be released later this year in 2011.

In 2010 Sole left the Anticon label, citing a desire to further experiment with his music, independently of the collective, and also due to his belief that the label has developed away from what he initially intended it to be.

Aside from his official releases through Anticon, Sole has also released a slew of self-produced albums on his own imprint, Black Canyon. These include various compilations of unreleased material, as well as the releases of his "mansbestfriend" project. Currently, as he is no longer with Anticon, Sole self-releases all his material.

Sole is currently based in Denver, Colorado. He is married to Yasamin Holland, whose name is referenced occasionally in his lyrics.

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

Compilations

Singles

  • Sole (1995, 45 Below)
    • w/ JD Walker & Moodswing9, as Live Poets
  • Respect (1997, 45 Below)
    • w/ JD Walker & Moodswing9, as Live Poets
  • Banquet of Sarcasm (1998, 45 Below)
  • Rain Men (1999, anticon.)
    • w/ Alias, Doseone & Slug, as Deep Puddle Dynamics
  • Bottle of Humans (1999, anticon.)
  • Sideshow (2001, Mush Records)
    • w/ Alias & DJ Mayonnaise, as So-Called Artists
  • Salt on Everything (2002, anticon.)
  • Plutonium (2003, anticon.)
  • God Save the Whales (2005)
  • New Single (2005, anticon.)
  • Don't Try to Stop It / Rust Belt Fellows (2010, Poetic Dissent)
    • w/ Kaigen

Also appears on

See also

References

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