Consumer Guide Album

Souls of Mischief: '93 'til Infinity [Jive, 1993]
More than the Phracyde, the Freestyle Fellowship, or the unaffiliated Funkytown Pros, this young Oakland foursome stay aloft on the spiderweb of ideas all West Coast Native Tongues types try to swing from: playful rhyme sounds, metaphorical rhyme violence, spare jazz-intricate beats, and an aversion to all things gangsta, including hooks. They even eschew dirty words: "D.C. got schemes/And we ain't got spit." They won't necessarily stay in your head after the record's over. But while they're there, you won't believe how much life they've got. A-