Souls Of Mischief, the legendary crew, hailing from Oakland, California, were in town this past weekend for a rare performance at the Jazz Cafe. Expectations were high and following the critical success of their recently released album with Prince Paul, Montezuma's Revenge, they had no other option but to smash this performance.
As per usual with artists of their stature, the anticipation was thick in the air and extremely tangible. The four man collective of Opio, Phesto and Tajai (minus A-Plus who was conspicuously absent) leaped onto the stage with boundless energy and charismatic aplomb. They ripped through a selection of bangers, anthems and classics with such a youthful zest that you would would think the songs were written the day before and being performed for the first time.
They opened up with a sick scratch routine from D.J. Lex, followed by some gems from the Hieroglyphics catalogue, namely You'll Never Know and Fantasy Island. These selections definitely got the crowd open and from start to finish Souls Of Mischief were in complete control. They effortlessly showcased their knack for great stage presence and clear vocal delivery all with the inclusion of some quirky monologue in between (they all kicked acappella verses but Tajai stole the show with a multisyllabic masterpiece that had the real heads losing their minds). They also performed some choice cuts from their latest full length release such as Proper Aim and Tour Stories and whilst these are great songs in their own right, they are still the newest gems in the treasure chest therefore the reaction wasn't as euphoric at these points of the show. The old adage about "saving the best for last" was again proved true on this night because as soon as '93 'Til Infinity burst from the speakers, the venue erupted with hundreds of people reciting the song WORD FOR WORD. Classic music has this affect on people obviously.
Overall it was a great gig from one of Hip Hop's most heralded yet under appreciated groups. Based on the success of this show, Souls Of Mischief will be rocking 'til infinity and way beyond that.
