Denver-based artist and indie hip-hop legend Sole, also known as Tim Holland from the famed Anticon collective, has been deeply involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement's Occupy Denver camp. But now he's taking his protest to song in a new track called "I Think I'm Ben Bernanke."
In the video for "I Think I'm Ben Bernanke" Holland plays the part of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank as he smokes crumpled up money from a bong. Holland spoke to HuffPost about the track and wanted it to be clear that although he is "protesting and organizing with Occupy Denver," he doesn't speak for all of Occupy Denver in this song, it's his personal statement. Holland had this to say about "I Think I'm Ben Bernanke:"
The song itself is about the history of America's long decline, beginning with the exploitation of the natives, slavery and the post-World War 2 American dominance over the globe. Once the world was sucked dry, the entire system caved in on itself. We have been living on borrowed time since day one, with nothing left to plunder all we can do now is make radical changes or suffer the consequences.
On his website SoleOne, Holland writes about the themes that went into this song and others on his upcoming mix tape "Dispatches From The American Fall:"
Despite what economists, lobbyists, and experts have been telling us over the past 20 years, the project of "American empire" could only end like all other empires in history… in collapse. I've been talking this shit for a decade. I felt it would be fitting to compile all the songs I made that touch on economic issues and throw them together for a free download. Here they are.
For more information about Sole and his music, visit SoleOne.org.