Souls Article--"One Nut Magazine"

This Page Was Posted on December 8th, 1995

The Souls of Mischief came out hitting hard and breaking fools off with their sarcastic B-Boy boasts and a new way of flowing over unique, unforgettable beats on '93 Til Infinity. But in the shadow of the sophomore slump comes No Man's Land. The album is different, the vibe is a little harder, the delivery a little angrier, and the beats a lot dirtier. Phesto explains, "We're the same group; we're just different due to our growth."

A-Plus breaks it down saying, "If you check past demos, the music always changes." The Souls have always tried to change up their music and Land is geared toward crowd participation and future touring. Their new style may be a little hard for heads to take, especially since they've had such a long hiatus between albums, which they blame on that record company bullshit.

All of the members got more involved with the production of this LP. For example, Opio worked more with Del and other members of Hiero to make beats and mix down the album. "We really put our heart into this album," Opio claims.

Tajai experimented with writing more hooks and also helped out on beats, which was a new experience for him. "Last time we were just assaulting every beat like, 'AUGGH!!'" he says. "But on this one, we looked around and went outside of our crew so that it would be more likable and appealing to everyone."

The first time I heard a copy of No Man's Land, it didn't appeal to me. The tape was muddled, mixed horribly and the only songs that bumped were "Rock It Like That," "Cabfare" and "Come A New Skit." As a fan, I felt a little dissed that one of the dopest crews in the Bay left the sound that got me through a lot of late night cipher sessions with the driving beats and energy of me. A week later, I got another tape that sounded nothing like the first one with different mixes, songs and titles. The second tape was a lot better, however, it still didn't come close to their beginning greatness. Unfortunately, I wrote an unfavorable review of the album, but my opinion was swayed slightly with the second tape. In typical One Nut-starting-shit/instigating fashion, one of the editors told me to call the group and let them know I hit them off in my review. A-Plus was the only person available for comment. Surprisingly, he was hella cool in responding to my criticism.

"We reorganized everything and it came out a lot better," he says. "We covered enough ground so we don't have to go backwards." The group wants their old fans to give the album a chance and potential fans to peep the new sound. Phesto capped it off before: "All MC's and people change. We couldn't come out the same. That would be a non-creative way of doing things."

Image Map To Navigate tHa tHReshHolD! DLoad this!