DIY rapper and occupier Sole will be releasing his seventh studio album, A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing, next week. Titled from a letter by Marx and written as a member of Occupy Denver, the album is a call to arms, with new anthems for grassroots uprisings.
With black-and-white grittiness, molotov cocktails, and masked rioters emerging from the tear gas, the video for Sole’s song “Assad is Dead” is his “shout out to the ride-or-die Syrian opposition.” With lyrics by Pedestrian and a beat by Skyrider, “Assad is Dead” packages the ethics of Occupy and the Arab Spring in the trappings of hip hop, all delivered by a social-justice-minded MC reporting live on the street.
Catch the video below, and while you’re at it, grab a free download of the rock-imbued “Ruthless.”