This is how we chill, 93 'til....
May 13, 2020 10:47 PM Subscribe
It was supposed to be "91 'Til Infinity," but the Souls of Mischief were in high school, sending demos out and trying to land something. Two years later, they were pulling together an album and A-Plus pulled some samples from a Billy Cobham track (Who Sampled) for a more uptempo version that would become the East Oakland group's sleeper hit track 93 'Til Infinity (YouTube). This is a sampling of the oral history of the title track of a fantastic album (YouTube playlist), one of three albums to come out in 1993 from the Heirogliphics crew, the others being Del the Funky Homosapien's No Need for Alarm (YT pl) and Casual's Fear Itself (YT pl).
In his 5-starred review of 93 'Til Infinity, Steve Huey wrote for All Music Guide that this is "one of hip-hop's great lost masterpieces," but Kanye, Just Blaze and John Mayer (YT) are just three of the notable fans who have celebrated the album. If you want to dig into the album, here's 20 minutes of the samples from the album, plus the lyrics, plus meanings and references, from Genius.
The Souls of Mischief never reached the same height with their later works, but have a solid following with the skate, surf & snowboard culture, according to Hip Hop Golden Age's write-up on the group, who put out another 5 albums:
- 1995 - No Man's Land (Bandcamp)
- 1998 - Focus (Bc)
- 2000 - Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution (Bc)
- 2009 - Montezuma’s Revenge (Bc)
- 2014 - There Is Only Now (Yt)
If you want more of that jazzy-type Bay Area hip-hop, the Hieroglyphics Imperium Bandcamp account may be your jam. And if you're in the area in early September (and people can gather to celebrate and party), look out for Hiero Day, a day to celebrate hip-hop culture and Oakland (SF Gate, 2014).
In his 5-starred review of 93 'Til Infinity, Steve Huey wrote for All Music Guide that this is "one of hip-hop's great lost masterpieces," but Kanye, Just Blaze and John Mayer (YT) are just three of the notable fans who have celebrated the album. If you want to dig into the album, here's 20 minutes of the samples from the album, plus the lyrics, plus meanings and references, from Genius.
The Souls of Mischief never reached the same height with their later works, but have a solid following with the skate, surf & snowboard culture, according to Hip Hop Golden Age's write-up on the group, who put out another 5 albums:
- 1995 - No Man's Land (Bandcamp)
- 1998 - Focus (Bc)
- 2000 - Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution (Bc)
- 2009 - Montezuma’s Revenge (Bc)
- 2014 - There Is Only Now (Yt)
If you want more of that jazzy-type Bay Area hip-hop, the Hieroglyphics Imperium Bandcamp account may be your jam. And if you're in the area in early September (and people can gather to celebrate and party), look out for Hiero Day, a day to celebrate hip-hop culture and Oakland (SF Gate, 2014).
Over the years, Hiero Day has morphed from a free block party featuring a few Bay Area and West Coast comrades to an all-star hip-hop extravaganza with musical talent from across the country, attracting fans from as far away as Australia and Japan. As the event has grown in size—it passed the 25,000 attendance mark a few years back—it’s also grown in stature while remaining uniquely organic and homegrown.(KQED, 2019)
One of my favorite hip-hop albums ever. (Of all time.)
Kinda blasphemous, but here's a house music track that samples the title 93 'til infinity: Youandewan - 93
In case you're interested in what tracks were sampled for 93 'Til Inifinity, check out the whosampled.com page.
posted by nikoniko at 11:27 PM on May 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Kinda blasphemous, but here's a house music track that samples the title 93 'til infinity: Youandewan - 93
In case you're interested in what tracks were sampled for 93 'Til Inifinity, check out the whosampled.com page.
posted by nikoniko at 11:27 PM on May 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
There’s something very attractive in a laid back, chill sort of way, about Bay Area hip hop that really draws me in. Vans is one of my absolute favorite ever jams, I just get in such a good mood when I hear it, and it feels like there’s a family resemblance to ‘93 ‘Til Infinity.
Incidentally, I checked the Souls of Mischief Wikipedia page and whoever edited the “years active” field deserves all the good things in life.
posted by Kattullus at 2:41 AM on May 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
Incidentally, I checked the Souls of Mischief Wikipedia page and whoever edited the “years active” field deserves all the good things in life.
posted by Kattullus at 2:41 AM on May 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
I'm the biggest Casual fan, though I don't listen to much SoM past that. But 93 Til is an eternal classic. Like some songs will just never get old or sound dated. Like "I Got 5 on It". A few years ago I started hearing soundalike or tribute type songs that were related to 93 til, so I put them together and it gives you like 20 minutes of it (19 minutes, 32 seconds to be exact). Almost like doing an age progression on a kid and seeing what they would look like as an adult. I love putting it on and just sitting in that vibe.
Souls of Michief - 93 'Til Infinity
Kidz in The Hall - Wheelz Fall Off ('06 Til)
Co$$ - Now Til Infinity f. Reks & Naladge (2010)
The Underachievers - The Mahdi (2013)
Tanya Morgan - What We Do ft. Trackademicks (2009)
That's the order I use. Funny enough, YouTube linked Clear Soul Forces - Get No Better to me as similar, and I already had that song on the larger playlist this chunk of songs is on, but it just doesn't vibe the same to me. It doesn't flow the same way. If anybody knows any other songs that are tributes or clearly meant to fit the vibe, I'd love to listen!
posted by cashman at 6:11 AM on May 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
Souls of Michief - 93 'Til Infinity
Kidz in The Hall - Wheelz Fall Off ('06 Til)
Co$$ - Now Til Infinity f. Reks & Naladge (2010)
The Underachievers - The Mahdi (2013)
Tanya Morgan - What We Do ft. Trackademicks (2009)
That's the order I use. Funny enough, YouTube linked Clear Soul Forces - Get No Better to me as similar, and I already had that song on the larger playlist this chunk of songs is on, but it just doesn't vibe the same to me. It doesn't flow the same way. If anybody knows any other songs that are tributes or clearly meant to fit the vibe, I'd love to listen!
posted by cashman at 6:11 AM on May 14, 2020 [4 favorites]
cashman,
being familiar with 'wheelz fall of' I was thinking 'wow, kidz in the hall had to of sampled this' as I put on '93 til while reading the spin article just now before reading your comment; and both songs had sampled heather..
posted by fizzix at 12:29 PM on May 14, 2020
A lot of people have sampled it, in different genres too. I'm not completely sure whether "93 'Til" was the first but it was obviously the popularizer.
posted by atoxyl at 2:18 PM on May 14, 2020
posted by atoxyl at 2:18 PM on May 14, 2020
A coworker told me he ran into Tajai working as an architect/designer (which I guess is what he does now).
posted by atoxyl at 2:26 PM on May 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 2:26 PM on May 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
As they say in the interview it's obviously a specifically Northern California vibe and I've always loved it.
posted by atoxyl at 2:30 PM on May 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 2:30 PM on May 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
This album still stands up really well today. Glad to have snagged the instrumentals from the Hiero Emporium back in the 2000-2001 era.
One of my other favourites by Souls is Step to my Girl using the Bob James Taxi theme Angela.
And to top it off Big K.R.I.T really shined over 93 til...
Nice to see hiphop getting some love :)
posted by 12bits at 4:55 PM on May 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
One of my other favourites by Souls is Step to my Girl using the Bob James Taxi theme Angela.
And to top it off Big K.R.I.T really shined over 93 til...
Nice to see hiphop getting some love :)
posted by 12bits at 4:55 PM on May 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Souls and Hiero are some of the GOATS and kill that poseur Kanye any day.
My intro to souls was some "cool" 90s PBS show geared towards indie type kids - hip hop, I remember them talking about MDMA, Jamiroquai, Onyx... so many interesting bands on that show.
When I heard this and saw the videos I instantly fell in love. I think it was 93 til and That's when ya lost it. I bought No Man's Land at one point. Then kinda fell out but check in now and then to see what they're up to.
Thumbs up!
posted by symbioid at 6:34 PM on May 14, 2020
My intro to souls was some "cool" 90s PBS show geared towards indie type kids - hip hop, I remember them talking about MDMA, Jamiroquai, Onyx... so many interesting bands on that show.
When I heard this and saw the videos I instantly fell in love. I think it was 93 til and That's when ya lost it. I bought No Man's Land at one point. Then kinda fell out but check in now and then to see what they're up to.
Thumbs up!
posted by symbioid at 6:34 PM on May 14, 2020
This is HOW we chill...
posted by ikahime at 10:51 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ikahime at 10:51 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
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