This is my second entry into the I'll Show You Mine if You'll Show Me Yours W/O, which I also am the host of. This is the fourth year, and due to having an odd number, I paired myself off twice. This time around, my partner is the Queen of Hip Hop/Soul at Epinions, Carletta (aka cletta1201). She has chosen for me the classic debut from the Souls of Mischief, while I went back to give her Soundgarden's 1994 breakthrough SuperUnknown. Let's get this thing moving...

For those who don't know much about who the Souls of Mischief are, the good news is is that you probably aren't alone. While the group scored some airplay for the title track to the album I'm reviewing, 93 'Til Infinity, for the most part they're popularity has remained in hip hop's underground. From what I've read of the group, a lot of that underground popularity is due in no small part to this album right here.

Made up of 4 members (A-Plus, Phesto, Opio, and Tajai), this group was part of a larger collective called Hieroglyphics. To my (very limited) knowledge, Hieroglyphics, much like the Souls of Mischief themselves, never gained any type of huge sales. However, both hip hop and alternative music fans alike may be interested to know that the collective's founder is Del the Funkee Homosapien, who has recently garnered platinum sales and critical acclaim for his work with Blur frontman Damon Albarn in Gorillaz, perhaps best known for their hit Clint Eastwood.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can actually begin talking about the album. To be truthful, I wasn't sure what to expect from this group. When I was first assigned the album, I had no idea if they were gangsta rappers, goofy rappers, playful rappers, or thinking rappers. When I saw they were commonly compared to A Tribe Called Quest, I instantly let out a sigh of relief. Gangsta rap had its 5-6 good years, but it just began boring me to no end, as it seemed to lose its spark and its creativity by the time 1994 or 1995 rolled around.

93 'Til Infinity begins with Let Em Know, a track that has an insane jazzy bass groove and small blasts of horns. If this bass groove doesn't get your head moving, nothing in hip hop will. The group gets to show off their impressive talents immediately, with each member taking turns on the mic. Lyrically, the song is a bit of a braggadocio track, and the group gets bonus points for the Star Wars references (Phesto raps "Here I go again, Return of the Jedi, Red eye, Use my lightsaber to take guys that pick my flavor"). I guess I truly am a goofy white boy.

The jazz influence permeates the following track as well. Live and Let Live has some excellent horn parts which ups the ante on the laid back groove that the beat brings.

The group tackles gritty street life on What a Way to Go Out, a song that on first look would appear to glorify everything the group seems to be against in the first place. In the end though, the protagonist ends up with AIDS and dying, leaving a friend to lament "that was my motherf*cking man, damn I miss him."

Further on down the line, the group takes some pot shots at the those who try to corrupt the youth of the country on Tell Me Who Profits, a song with an extremely powerful message with regards to socio-economic conditions in the country. Perhaps the best thing I can say about the song is that it resonates just as much today as it most likely did a decade ago.

Not everything about this disc is quite classic though. Limitations has a beat that limits how well the song comes across. More than anything, it feels like there should be something more going on with this beat, but there's nothing. This is especially surprising since the track was produced by Del himself. I'm also less than impressed with Disseshowedo, whose beat doesn't fit the delivery, and That's When Ya Lost seems to fall apart about halfway into the song.

As mentioned before, the title track got some airplay, and with good reason. The beat sounds like straight 1993 hip hop, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It also has the best hook on the record, which means it is not surprising it was picked as the single ("this is how we chill from 93 'til").

While this album has it's few flaws, for the most part it is solid hip hop that manages to sound original while still being able to showcase the talents of the four young rappers who make up the group (even more impressive is that they weren't out of their teens when they recorded this disc). I especially grew to love the basslines and the use of horns that permeate most of the record. And so, with that, I give 93 'Til Infinity a solid 4 star rating, and a hearty recommendation to both hip hop heads and non hip hop heads who want something other than Chingy et all that gets shoved down your throat.

The other entries in the ISYMIYSMY W/O:

jennjoy and andym173

minorthreat78 and sixerman

grandpa_riot and plorentz

guildenstern and stairway2drew

jeff_wilder78 and DrFaustus

speeddemon531 and lambchops

foxy_shy and shilmafone

teamfreak16 and musicsucks

flamepillar and given2flymike

crypticcradle and matta75 (that's me!)

redsox75 and pacmany2j

crazedkrinkle and titan45

divad23 and bob_tomato

roheblius and jiggyjay

cletta1201 and matta75 (that's me again!)

Recommended: Yes