Until September of 2012, Seattle's hip-hop scene was virtually an irrelevant aspect of popular music. Whether it was top 40 fiends ("God I love Pitbull"), Hypemers ("I'm soooo underground") or hip-hop heads ("all new rap sucks, I hate everything"), I found myself struggling to explain to people how Seattle has more to offer than 8 dollar Starbucks frapamochalattewhatevers. In September of last year everything changed. My then beloved hidden gem Macklemore released "Thrift shop" and thus began his meteoric rise to extreme pop stardom. Now, this is in no means a Macklemore attack. I would never hate on that man or the success he's seen. Does a little piece of me die every time I hear "Can't Hold Us" on the radio 5 times in a 45 minute period? Yes, but It's not my fault. I'm an arrogant hip-hop fan, I had planned on hoarding Macklemore for years... Now I have to pay 80 bucks and fight through a group of drunk tweens to see him live.
But that is neither here nor there. Alongside Macklemore in Seattle's budding hip-hop scene are rappers like Grynch, The Blue Scholars, Grieves and most importantly for the sake of this post Sol. Last year Sol released a stellar album in "Yours Truly" that featured an array of gems, I would strongly suggest the purchase. After the release of that album he toured for a little then went on a year long voyage around the world, Must be nice Sol... Must be nice. Twitter/Instagram really makes following artists lives and music much easier, and slightly creepy.
Anywho, Sol's new album "Eyes Open" will be released Tuesday and will feature both "Jump In" and "Tomorrow". I've personally been bumping "Jump In" on repeat at the desk all day and like most Sol tracks it's uplifting, passionate and features some intriguing brass sections.
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