Solidarity Records is a label based in the Bay Area that has been putting out quality hip hop albums form the likes of Equipto, White Mic, Professa Gabel, Otayo Dubb, and others over the years. Most recently, they dropped the Memoirs of an Era mixtape from Equipto and DJ Pause back in March of this year. Now they are back with a different kind of label compilation, Civil Disobedience Vol. 1.

If you know anything about the artists involved with Solidarity Records, you know that they are involved in their communities, and in turn put these messages into their music. With that said, it should come as no surprise that when Solidarity went to drop a label compilation, it was full of political hip hop songs meant to fire up their listeners to take some action. With production duties across the comp being handled by Aagee, we get some great soulful West Coast boom bap, spiced up by some well-placed vocal samples of various speakers, educators, and community leaders, giving you food for thought and often presenting themes for each of the songs that the emcees can then put their verses into conversation with. Over the course of the comp, we are getting killer verses from Equipto, MC Pauze, Amani Jade, Zumbi, Scarub, Tyson Amir, T-KASH, Stewie G, TYS, Rich Iyala, and Casa TJG. It’s a nice mix of Bay Area legends and lesser known artists that you’ll want to look up and start digging into their catalogues, especially if you’re not ready for Amani Jade to crush her verse on “Stand Firm.” More than anything, though, this is a project to get you thinking about issues like police violence, gentrification, and racism, but also to make you think about protesting and volunteering in your own community.

Civil Disobedience Vol. 1 is a great compilation from a label that has been committed to making political statements through hip hop for years. This will introduce you to a few artists you haven’t heard before, but it will also lit a fire under your ass and make you want to take action wherever you live.