This week, I’m not gonna lie – I had not idea who Sol was until I ran into his definite JOTW-worthy jam on the Hype Machine last week.
The first thing I learned about him? He was just on a 10-month “creative retreat” around the world and returned with this song, called “Dope.” What sounds like a 10-month Ricky Williams-like venture (remember that?) on the surface actually had some merit to it. I did a little bit of research and it turns out that after graduating from the University of Washington in 2011, he was granted the University of Washington Bonderan Fellowship, which gave him the opportunity to travel for 10 months.
From the Washington.edu site, I found this description of the fellowship:
While traveling, students may not pursue academic study, projects, or research. Established in 1995, this fellowship aims to expose students to the intrinsic, often life-changing, benefits of international travel.
Sol had this statement before leaving:
I plan to travel through the greater part of 2012 through Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Peru, and the Caribbean. I am most interested in learning about the role that music plays in people’s lives around the world, and how that role differs from that in the United States. As a cultural ambassador representing my community, I hope to converse and collaborate with other lovers of music from all corners of the earth. As an active musician I expect to return from this experience enabled and inspired to bring ideas and change to my home community.
AWESOME. There are so many dope (pun intended) people in this world. Sol is definitely one of them. I can’t wait to see how this trip has influenced his music.
This guy only has 8,500 Twitter followers so help him out (@solzilla). After you hear this jam, I think you will wanna keep tabs on his upcoming work anyway.
Without further ado, here is “Dope” by Sol (produced by the Zillas):
The Associates 