from the LP ’93 ‘til Infinity, Jive Records, 1993A good example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Oakland crew the Souls of Mischief brought a decidedly golden age vibe in a time when West Coast gangsta rap had just dethroned their old school sound, leaving this insanely talented crew to be largely forgotten by the mainstream; had these cats rolled out a few years before, and in NYC instead of the Bay area, I’d have bet the farm on them being huge, yet they somehow remain even less known than similar late-comers like the Pharcyde. This entire album is a fluid display of hip-hop mastery, from the hot potato rhyming scheme to the sick ass beats (the title track here features a very spacey Billy Cobham sample), sounding much more like a polished veteran set as opposed to a debut; also, lots of weed talk, which always endears an artist to me, “…yo, I can dig it, here's a 40, swig it, ya know it's frigid, I got em chillin’ in the cooler; break out the ruler, damn, that's the fattest stoke I've ever seen; the weather’s keen in Cali, gettin’ weeded makes her feel like Maui, now we feel the good vibrations, so many females, so much inspiration; I get inspired by the blunts too…” Anyone who loves Tribe-era rap but is unfamiliar with the Souls would be well served to procure this LP immediately, if not sooner.
