Souls of Mischief is a hip hop group from

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, that is also part of the

hip hop collective Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared.Liisa Ladouceur"Collegjthk ctive Souls" ''This Magazine'', November/December 2004. The concept is distinct from th ...

Hieroglyphics Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

. The Souls of Mischief formed in 1991 and is composed of rappers A-Plus, Opio,

Phesto Damani Thompson, known by the stage names, Phesto and Phesto Dee (born April 29, 1974), is an American rapper and producer. He is one of the founding four members of the Oakland, California-based underground hip hop group Souls of Mischief, a ...

, and

Tajai Tajai Massey, known by the stage name Tajai (born April 21, 1975), is an American rapper and producer. He is one of the four founding members of the Oakland, California-based underground hip hop group Souls of Mischief and, with Souls of Misch ...

History

East Oakland native Tajai began rhyming with future bandmate A-Plus at age 8, while both were in

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

. Tajai and Phesto met later in

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

. Tajai recruited his best friend Phesto in middle school and A-Plus brought Opio into the budding act in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

before making its major-label debut on

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...

with the group's well-received album ''

93 'til Infinity ''93 'til Infinity'' is the debut studio album by American hip-hop group Souls of Mischief. It was released on February 13, 1993 on the Jive label. Composition The sound of ''93 'til Infinity'' is characteristic of the distinct style explored b ...

'', in 1993. The group is part of the hip-hop collective

, along with emcees

Del tha Funkee Homosapien Teren Delvon Jones (born August 12, 1972), better known by his stage name Del the Funky Homosapien (sometimes stylized as Del tha Funkee Homosapien) or Sir DZL, is an American rapper. Music career 1988–1997: Early life and beginnings Born in O ...

, Casual,

Pep Love Pep Love is a hip-hop music, hip hop artist and a member of the Oakland, California-based hip hop musical collective, collective Hieroglyphics (band), Hieroglyphics. Personal life Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Pep Love relocated wit ...

, Jaybiz, and producer

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also c ...

. The group participated as full members in all three of Hieroglyphics' studio albums: 1998's ''

3rd Eye Vision ''3rd Eye Vision'' is the first studio album by American hip hop collective Hieroglyphics. It was released by Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings on March 24, 1998. It peaked at number 26 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers Albums chart, as well as num ...

'', 2003's '' Full Circle'', and 2013's

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founde ...

. ''93 ’til Infinity'' is the group's highest charting album to date (#17 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums; #85 ''Billboard'' 200) and, in January, 1998, was named one of the Top 100 Rap albums by ''

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

'' magazine. The group stayed with Jive for one more album, 1995's ''

No Man's Land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

'', before being released from the label during the same year. The group released two albums on Hiero's self-owned

independent label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings is an Oakland, California-based, independent hip hop record label founded and owned by underground hip hop collective, the Hieroglyphics. The label was created by the collective in 1995 to publish and market the ...

: 1999's ''

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

'', and 2000's '' Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution''. On October 30, 2006, ''Hierocast'' (Hieroglyphics' official

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

), Del tha Funkee Homosapien reported that the Souls of Mischief was currently working on its next studio album with Prince Paul (

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

, Gravediggaz,

Handsome Boy Modeling School Handsome Boy Modeling School is an American collaborative project between hip hop producers Dan the Automator ( Gorillaz, Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030) and Prince Paul (Stetsasonic, De La Soul, Gravediggaz). The collaboration originally lasted ...

). On January 6, 2009, Souls of Mischief released the ''Tour Stories'' EP produced by Domino and co-produced by Prince Paul. The song is taken from the group's fifth studio album, ''Montezuma's Revenge'', released on Hieroglyphics Imperium. In 2013, a documentary about the band was released entitled ''Til Infinity: The Souls of Mischief''. Produced and directed by Shomari Smith, it reflected on the 20-year anniversary of the band's debut album ''93 'Til Infinity'' and includes over 50 interviews with prominent MCs, DJs, and producers of the era. During the 2017 NBA Playoffs,

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

released a television commercial promoting Gatorade Flow, which featured

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

star forward

Paul George Paul Clifton Anthony George (born May 2, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "PG-13", he is a seven-time NBA All-Star and six-time member of th ...

and the instrumental music of Souls of Mischief' ''93 'Til Infinity''.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Allmusic Biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Discogs.com Profile

Hieroglyphics.com Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souls Of Mischief Hip hop groups from California Alternative hip hop groups Musical groups established in 1993 Jive Records artists Musical groups from Oakland, California