The Song of the Day is:
Souls of Mischief – “’93 Til Infinity”
From the album ’93 Til Infinity (1993)
Dial the seven digits, call up Bridgette
Her man’s a midget, plus she got friends, yo, I can dig it
Here’s a forty, swig it, y’know it’s frigid
I got ’em chillin in the cooler, break out the ruler
Damn! That’s the fattest stog’ I ever seen
The weather’s heat in Cali, gettin’ weeded makes it feel like Maui
Now we feel the good vibrations
So many females, so much inspiration
Adam Carter – Billy Cobham – Damani Thompson – Opio Lindsey – Tajaí Massey
First off, let me just say that with the breaking news of the passing of legendary comedian Carl Reiner, if I hadn’t already played Claude Debussy’s “Clair De Lune”, I’d be playing it now. Aw hell, let’s give him a send off anyway…
I feel that clip is the perfect appreciation of Carl Reiner. He’ll be missed. Now onto today’s song of the day – “’93 Til Infinity” by Souls of Mischief. This was a lost classic that seems to be garnering a bit of momentum in being re-discovered. It’s been in a Gatorade commercial recently and has also been featured in the last year’s reboot of Shaft and the romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe. If this song does really enter the public consciousness, great, if it helps to revive smart jazz hip-hop, even better. There was a couple years where hip-hop acts dug through jazz records to find beats, and matched them with insightful lyrics. This was in contrast to the more popular rap of the day, Dr. Dre and Snoop, Naughty By Nature, and Public Enemy. This music was a lot more chill, generally, and was often quite catchy. I would group A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Arrested Development, Gang Starr, US3, Digable Planets and Souls of Mischief under this banner. As they plainly announce in this song, Souls of Mischief hails from Oakland, California, and they are a part of the larger rap collective known as Hieroglyphics, which was founded by Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. Souls of Mischief is comprised of A-Plus, Opio, Tajai and Phesto, and they are still together, though it has been six years since their most recent release. 1993 was a big year for my musical appreciation, I was in sixth grade and had grown out of action figures and onto CDs. I was spending a lot of time watching MTV after school, though sadly, I hadn’t seen this video. I was much more of a rock fan, though I had a budding appreciation for rap music then. I wonder if this song could have swayed my interest in rap even further in those days, I always did dig a solid groove. “’93 Til Infinity”‘s groove came from a drum loop from Graham Central Station’s “The Jam” and it’s organ flourishes from Billy Cobham’s “Heather” (since this was a solo release from fusion drummer Billy Cobham, it was actually George Duke on the keys). The album ’93 Til Infinity is now regarded as one of the best of the era, and has amassed quite a following.
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Hear Today, Grown Tomorrow 