interview with Sole as seen in TheThrowAwayDays issue #2

     I wanted to interview Sole at the show he played in Pittsburgh a while ago. Before any of the acts went on I asked him to do an interview for my "shitty zine" and he was down. Since I was nervous I decided to wait until after I tied on a few cold beers. I ended up drinking too much to work my recorder, and I think Sole was three sheets to the wind as well, but I have a habit of thinking everyone is equally as drunk as me.  So I'm not sure if he was actually drunk or I just didn't want to feel like the only drunk asshole so I told myself he was to drunk to do the interview too.
     Sole agreed to do the interview via email. When an artist says that they'll do an interview through email it usually means they agree not to hurt your feelings by telling you your "shitty zine" isn't worth their time because you don't even have enough clout to write freelance for anyone but yourself. But Sole held true and returned my questions is less than 12 hours.
     I prefaced all my questions in the email by saying I was terrible at spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc, etc, so any mistakes he sent back I more than likely wouldn't catch. I send this to most artists I interview through email, but I felt like Sole is pretty smart so I wouldn't have much proofreading to do. However, his answers were filled with mistakes, and me being the disillusioned paranoid fanboy I am I assumed he only did this to test me to see if I really was going to fix any of his mistakes or not. Well I'm not a god damn liar, so here is the e-mail I got back from Sole in it's entirety, word for word, mistake for mistake.

TheThrowAwayDays: Any idea what happened with that kid, Manny, and Lord Grunge during your set last night? What the fuck are you supposed to do as a rapper when the show promoter is about to get in a fight during your set?

Sole: seriously that was wack as fuck.  it was especially pissed off when manni straight shut my sound off and didn't even say anything to me about it.  if the goal is to put on a concert, then its best to put on a concert.  in those situations, you have to make a decision, is what im doing going to escalate a conflict or de escalate?   yes the dude allegedly did some fucked up shit, but two or three wrongs dont make a right!

T-TAD: Who are you top three favorite red headed rappers?
Sole: none of them.

T-TAD: What happened with Serengeti and Open Mike Eagle who were supposed to be on your tour?
Sole: its not my tour, its Jel's tour.  Things with transportation got fucked up so there was no room for mike eagle in the vehicle.  i don't really understand serengetti's situation or his excuses.  I think Jel would be better suited to answer these questions then me ;)

T-TAD: Got any good tour story gossip from "Old Oakland Reunion Tour"
Sole: the best/worst stuff i can't repeat.  to be honest though, not really.  it was a pretty smooth fun tour with little drama.

T-TAD: What is one pro and con about Anticon/Fake Four/Black Canyon Music?
Sole: i am not on anticon anymore.

pros/cons

anticon  pros: awesome, authentic history, strong brand.  cons:  the brand remains
fake four pros: great label, community,& artists  . cons: ceschi is in prison
black canyon: pros: not really a label, just a mode of doing music work, getting paid in full and releasing what i want when i want.  con: so much fucking work and i need help with booking.


T-TAD: Why does Pedestrian write some of your songs/or you play his or whatever? (ex Assad is Dead, Banks of Marble)
Sole: because he doesn't enjoy rapping as much as i do, and he writes in my voice better then i do sometimes.  theres stuff i can get away with saying that he can't.  he doesn't care about fame or careers or any of that shit, he just enjoys writing and i enjoy rapping his lyrics.

T-TAD: Not that I really want any juicy details if this still does exist, but is there still a beef with El P? Or does rap beef kinda just fade away about so many years, or maybe once you hit 30?
Sole: no it doesnt exist anymore, we've squashed our beef.  that shit cast a huge black cloud over my career though, so although its gone there are a lot of people i'll never be friends with.


T-TAD: In an interview you did with Above Ground Magazine you said something about how helpful Lil B was when you worked with him. How did that collab come to be, and in what ways was he helpful?
Sole: i think regardless of what you think about his music, he revolutionized the game.  he shows you that in the 2010's all you need is a youtube account and a website to host music on, and if you worked hard and did interesting/compelling shit people will support you.  thats revolutionary, it puts labels out of a job but forces artists to work harder!  so when i wanted to make videos i was talking to lil b about cameras, he gave great advice, he also gave me some great advice on how to run twitter bots effectively.  most people dont give out trade secrets, but lil b doesn't give a shit.  


T-TAD: Say something smart about that smart shit you do that I'm too much of a dumb-dumb-dummy to ask about. (yanno, your fancy diet, your podcast, occupy Denver)"
Sole: prairie dogs have one of the most advanced languages in the animal kingdom.  they have over 72 words, they use adjectives like "big" nouns like "human" or "fox." they lived in a heirarchical society, almost like a monarchy.  a male and a female have babies, those babies then form colonies along the borders of the alpha male/female.  this creates security for the elders and allows them to keep building out.  not saying i support this sort of model for society but prairie dogs are still dope as fuck

Sole
http://www.soleone.org/
http://sole.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bigsole?rf=105497879484812
@mcsole


interview by Cody Jones/Stillborn Identity

https://www.facebook.com/stillcody
stillbornidentity.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/stillborn-identity
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stillborn-Identity/154438521280723
https://www.youtube.com/user/stillcodentity
@CodyJonesSTLBRN