Souls of Mischief - "'93 Til Infinity"

I don't know if it's the song itself or the very laid-back video with the outdoor settings, but this video is one that really sticks in my head as a favorite. It's not all that impressive or innovative but it was such a refreshing change from a lot of the in-your-face, in the ghetto imagery of the time.

Souls of Mischief should have been a great hip hop crew. With four very distinct voices and lyrical styles, Opio, Phesto, A-Plus and Tajai should have revolutionized rap music. Instead, they put out one incredibly good album, which is (of course), '93 Til Infinity.

What is great about this song is not only that they never say the word "infinity" in the chorus, but rather just "This is how we chill from '93 til ..." but that they eschew all the hard-posing that was so popular and showed themselves simply "chilling." At the beach, in the forest, in someone's rec room.

At the time, I would say Heiro was the premier West Coast hip hop crew, but I might be biased because they sounded like an East Coast hip hop crew (more attention to lyrics, jazz beats instead of funk beats, etc.). This track remains one of my favorites.

Yo, crews are jealous cause we get props
The cops
Wanna stop
Our fun, but the top
Is where we're dwelling, swelling, phat
No sleep
I work fifteen jerks get their hoes sweeped
Under their noses
This bro's quick
To hit blunts and flip once I'm chillin cause my crew's close, kid
I boasted
Most kids accept this as cool
I exit
Cause I'm an exception to the rule
I'm steppin
To the cool spots where crew's flock to stare at them
Or see where the shit that's flam b
Bland leaking out his pocket
So, I got tons of endo
And go to the ho in's
Basement
My ace spinned
Phat and enough tracks
Time to get prolific with the whiz kid