Oakland, CA based MC, sOuL just released his newest project, a 7 track EP called The Unspoken Word. We were introduced to the artist through a dope video for the album's single, "I Am You". Check it out below. sOuL - "I Am You"Although perhaps new to most, sOuL has been at it this for a while. In 2002, he released his first album, A World Without End which he recorded in just one day. After another double-sided vinyl release in 2006, 5 years would pass until the debut of his latest work.We sat down with sOuL (via the interweb) to discuss his latest project, The Unspoken Word : "...a cure," as the promo for the EP describes it, "for an artist haunted by a 1,000 half written songs, but chose 7 to capture the sore of police brutality in a city with sleepless nights, pondering triumph and time travel – amongst other things." TL: Can you tell me a little more about what went into making this EP; The theme behind it, or at least, what sparked it?sOuL: I've been working on a 2nd record for a minute, a record that I knew I would want to have a more political undertone to it, especially after the Bush administration, the continuous wars, etc. Then there was a cat that worked at my neighborhood grocery store who was murdered by the local transit police by the name of Oscar Grant. And that kind of made feel like I needed to include the song "CopX" and the photo on the cover, to pose the question, 'What has really changed in our country, society etc.?' The woman at the end of that song is Oscar's mother. Oakland held protests at the transit station he was murdered at. There was graffiti on the streets saying "fuck the police," so the feeling was very much alive that police murder was ok, and we weren't ok with that. Also when the officer who murdered Oscar Grant got away with it via a manslaughter charge, when he clearly drew a gun on a defenseless man, made the impression even more clearer.TL: So it seems a fair amount of time - about 5 years or more - passed between each of your releases. What's the reasoning behind that?sOuL: Well I focused mainly on performing here in the Bay for 2-3 yrs after my first record. During this time I had a 3-4 piece band and we had some nice shows, opening up for Zion I at the Great American Music Hall, a college festival at UC Berkeley opening up for Crown City Rockers etc... Then there was a serious desire to make my next record much, much, much more polished than my first record. The first record was cool, but it was more a sign of potential than a fully baked and executed artistic idea. This was followed by what some might call "writers block". I discovered it was more of a myth and illusion than anything real. I kept writing, performed at open mics - one especially influential one was at a place called the Eastside Arts Alliance in east Oakland. There, I was pushed by some really good musicians and MCs to keep it moving. One such influential MC was Bicasso of The Living Legends crew who would always be in my ear like, 'Yo! Get up on the stage and do your thing!' So that experience really got me back in the frame of mind an artist should be in. The time away recharging and focusing my lens really helped me - Then I look up and yeah, it's been 5 years, but a good 5 years. Even dropped a vinyl single during that time.Another note about the record, The Unspoken Word, there was this thing about making a record that had to do with what's not being said, by me, by society, etc., as well as a sort of elixir for writer's block. So the notion of the "unspoken word" held a lot of meaning for me in that way. In every song there's some political undertone present. Not just about police murdering citizens, but how the people are really one, our struggles are universal [which is examined] via the "I Am You" track or perhaps how I want to "Go Back" [track #3] to a time that was fresh, but to also show my ancestors how we've come (or perhaps how far we haven't come) and still be entertaining, and something you would want to knock.TL: Yeah, it turned out well. It's a great project. Are you down with Bicasso...?sOuL: We're not best friends, but he did the open mic and would always be like, 'Come up here and do ya thing!' He invited me to participate in the Malcolm X Jazz Festival here in Oakland in 2009 and 2010. He recorded the session of "CopX" [the first track on The Unspoken Word].TL: That's dope. I came up listening to Living Legends. Actually, I grew up listening to a lot of Bay area acts. In the early to mid 90s I was listening to Del and the Hieroglyphics crew, Grouch and the rest of the Living Legends, and also The Coup. At that point I was living outside of Texas and I vibed much more with that style of hip hop than what was coming out of Houston at the time. Toward the end of the 90s/early 2000s I was listening to Planet Asia, Sole and some of the Anticon artists, Mystic, Zion I and Azeem, so I've always been into Bay area hip hop. sOuL: Yeah! That's what's up! Funny, a lot of those cats I've been to house parties where they're there and it's like dope! Before the videos and stuff, the Bay was like that in the 90's. You'd go to Berkeley on a Saturday night and you'd see the Hiero slanging tapes or see Pam from The Coup spin your friend's house party etc.TL: So cool. In preparation for this interview I was looking online for some info and came across a forum where the question was asked if Houston or the Bay Area has produced better hip hop. In less than a year, that question generated 37 pages worth of responses from hundreds of people. Some of the back and forth was hilarious. You ever listen to any Houston acts either now or back in the day?sOuL: These things are really silly... Scarface and the Geto Boys were huge for me! Especially the "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" stuff. They were the ones I knew from TX mainly. I liked the Suave House cats too.TL: A friend of mine pointed out that Oakland (and the Bay Area in general) and Houston have both had some pretty instrumental artists that helped influence hip hop over the years, but both cities have gone through huge dry spells as far as national recognition and respect for their native scenes and talent.sOuL: For real. I can feel that!! TL: Back to your album. What's in store for you now? You doing shows to promote the EP?sOuL: I should be performing again in the next 2-3 months. Right now I'm doing more videos for this record and stepping up the media visual element that seems to have captured music these days. Gigs will be a bigger deal, I want to lay more groundwork for the media presence and have that be able to drive stuff.TL: Finally, can you give us an update on the whistle tip phenomenon in Oakland? Are people still putting whistle tips on their mufflers ala the YouTube video everyone saw a couple years back?sOuL: Ha! Funny! No more whistle tips. I live in east Oakland (I think it was an east Oakland thing) and to be honest, I only heard one or two cars with whistle tips... 3 yrs ago. I think that was more of a media/news/YouTube thing. I hear more cars with 15's in the trunk than any high pitched exhaust modifications.The Unspoken Word by sOuLContact info for sOuL:Website: www.11525.comEmail: sOuL @ 11525.comBandcamp: s-o-u-l.bandcamp.comFacebook: facebook.com/soul11525Twitter: @sOuL11525

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