Sole

American underground rapper Tim Holland, who records as Sole, helped establish the experimental hip-hop label and collective Anticon. Across a long and productive career he has stayed fiercely autonomous, shaping boldly unconventional hip-hop that foregrounds intimate, autobiographical themes. After issuing several little-known recordings in the 1990s, he introduced his solo work with the widely praised Bottle of Humans in 2000. Subsequent projects appeared under both the Sole and Mansbestfriend names, alongside joint efforts with other Anticon artists, among them the 2001 So Called Artists album. Beginning in 2007 with Sole and the Skyrider Band, he pursued a more acoustic, guitar-centered direction in tandem with Skyrider. His 2010s solo albums, such as 2012’s A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing, adopted a more overtly political stance than earlier material. The post-punk-inflected Destituent followed in 2019.

Holland was born in Portland, Maine, in 1977. His first demo, completed by 1992, drew attention from EMI; he turned down their offer upon learning that Jermaine Dupri rather than DJ Premier would produce the project. In 1996 he issued What’s It All About with the group Live Poets, an experience that connected him with Doseone and Jel, two future Anticon associates. With longtime friend Pedestrian he launched Anticon in 1998, reacting against what they viewed as a narrow and uninspired commercial rap climate, then relocated to the Bay Area to activate the label.

Deep Puddle Dynamics—comprising Dose, Jel, Slug, Sole, and Alias—soon recorded The Taste of Rain…Why Kneel, the release that first brought Anticon to wider notice. Sole’s debut full-length, Bottle of Humans, appeared in 2000 and was succeeded in 2003 by Selling Live Water. Dissatisfied with conditions in the United States, he moved to Barcelona, Spain, with his wife in 2004; Live from Rome, his third studio album, surfaced the following year. Since 2002 he has also written and self-released multiple Mansbestfriend projects, the second of which Morr Music reissued in 2004 as The New Human Is Illegal under the name Man’sbestfriend.

After returning to the United States, the largely instrumental Poly.Sci.187 arrived in 2007 as part of the Mansbestfriend series, followed by the self-titled debut from Sole and the Skyrider Band. A 2009 remix collection featured contributions from Odd Nosdam and Dosh, among others, while Plastique was released on Fake Four Inc. in 2010. That year Sole formally left Anticon, withdrew his earlier catalog from the label, and began issuing music via his own Black Canyon imprint as well as additional outlets. After further self-released solo recordings, Hello Cruel World, the third Sole and the Skyrider Band album, appeared on Fake Four in 2011 and included more radio-friendly productions plus guest spots from Lil B, Sage Francis, and Xiu Xiu. In pointed contrast, 2012’s A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing reflected his participation in Denver’s Occupy movement.

During 2013 Sole put out No Wishing Up No Settling Down and Crimes Against Totality, together with the instrumental Nomoredystopias, credited to Whitenoise, an initially solo endeavor that later became a duo with his wife, Yasamin Holland. He worked with DJ Pain 1 on Death Drive (2014) and Nihilismo (2016), then resumed solo activity with Let Them Eat Sand in 2018 and Destituent in 2019.