Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 03/09/2004
Already one of the underground's most respected rappers,
Sole debuted
Man'sbestfriend as an alias for the production side of his personality, rarely revealed until this 2004 LP. Released on the largely electronic label
Morr Music,
The New Human Is Illegal consists of a political manifesto reflecting the unsteady world climate of 2003-2004, though fortunately for those concerned with music more than protest,
Sole's methods are too experimental and esoteric to concentrate a political statement. As a producer he's obviously learned a lot from his
Anticon friends, packing his malevolent productions with a stunning array of recording tricks, most of which fall closer to sabotage than production. The opener,
"Class Action Suit Against Earth," features an amelodic analogue synthesizer and a detuned drum program (each clap sounding like an
Asteroids explosion), over
Sole's assured freestyle. He cuts up a
funk band on one track, slows down a
dub production to quarter-speed on another, and lets very few of these tracks out of his hard drive without heavy effects ranging from ring oscillators to tape hiss to DSP processing. The rapping ranges from a satire of
hip-hop braggadocio on
"Little Bank Anthem" to clear political protest on
"Attack Russia," which features
Sole sarcastically requesting that the U.S. destroy a half-dozen countries for assorted crimes, then sneers "I'm so proud to be American" before name-dropping the line, "
George Bush wasn't no
Caesar, but neither was
Lawrence Ferlinghetti" (the bookstore owner who became a free-speech hero by publishing
Allen Ginsberg's
Howl). Give credit to
Sole for turning the
hip-hop hat trick; he has no trouble creating a glorious mess of a record in true
Anticon style, but he also adds the hooks to keep listeners digging in, and remains an excellent rapper despite producing and performing.
~John Bush, All Music Guide
Cart 0 items
Listen
