Sole launched his unconventional hip hop career as a freestyle battle rapper, where he honed his own caustic brand of non-rhyming lyrical schemes. Continuing to buck the traditional hip hop approach, Sole & The Skyrider Band's latest release Plastique uses live band instrumentation to provide a tangible polyrhythmic backdrop to Sole's scathing subject matter. On first listen, Plastique is assaulting, confusing, and entertaining. Warped instrumentals and a steady, assailing beat push along this strange experiment of cross-genre composition. An overwhelming aura of repression and suffocation permeates this album. It is less about politics as it is about sociology. In an era permeated by a constant push of technology and categorization, Sole & The Skyriders challenge the conventional parameters of humanity and musicality. Judging by the lyrical content, feelings of alienation and otherness are exactly what the album is striving for: “Ridden with conspiracy/ You can’t blame us/ Raised in front of a TV/ We just want to be famous.” This is not an easy album to like, but there is something about it that digs its slender, needle-like hooks into your soul. This album gently tugs at your conscience, and holds you until you agree to listen, very carefully.