A film about Northwest hip-hop from

The Headspace Traveler

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Soon Enough

Hmmm... There's not a lot of information about this project in the museum encyclopedia. We'd love your help! TOWN LOVE is maintained by an awesome community of passionate volunteers who keep it all up to date.

Do you know something about the history of this record? Do you have a favorite lyric or a favorite memory? Send us an email on why this is one of the great hip-hop albums from the Northwest. Thanks!

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Murda On The Mic

Ever since his recent telephone experiment, I’ve been revisiting Sol’s extensive back catalogue. Here’s Murda on the Mic, a 2008 debut ep from the then 19-year-old Sol. It’s a killer first release, low-fi and raw, containing a brashness that’s softened and become more polished in his recent work. For me, it’s exactly this early, gritty sound that makes these seven songs so special, finding just the right arcs between serious and funny, nudging your mood a degree or two off-center and in unexpected directions. Take, for example, the flute solos in “Rock On.” These should be cheesy, and maybe they are, but Sol and a funky guitar move you in a way that convinces you that flutes are cool. You come away wondering why, honestly, there aren’t more flute solos. Or the grand, orchestral “Never Thought” that features doubled and tripled vocals doing call-and-response, and choral singers, too. This song and “Tomorrowless” remind you of the moments you love in Kanye’s early work: Energetic, assertive experiments dripping with talent.

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Dear Friends EP, Vol 1

Today I’m spinning Sol‘s Dear Friends EP from 2009. Six solid tracks, chill and funky as hell, with guest verses from Grynch, Philharmonic, Scribes and Kush Carter.

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Yours Truly

Seattle hip-hop blog 206UP picked this record as one of the “Top 10 Albums of 2012,” saying that:

On Sol’s Bandcamp page, the rapper dedicates Yours Truly to “the human pursuit of deep understanding,” an endeavor the MC is no doubt currently pursuing on a post-college graduation trip around the world. Most of this album — the culmination of a series of shorter, free EP releases — is an attempt at universal appeal, heavy on the pop hooks and R&B melodies which serve to make it all just feel very…easy. But when you consider Yours Truly in the context of the artist’s statement, it makes sense: we’re more immediately bonded together when our commonalities are highlighted, hence the depth of understanding we can find when enjoying an album like Yours Truly together. This may sound annoyingly meta and shit, but the threads that connect us through musical experience don’t exist at the surface of listening, which is true even when an album as easily enjoyable as this comes along.

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