Red Urban Records
2000
Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution
About This Album
Souls of Mischief's groundbreaking 1993 debut, '93 'Til Infinity, introduced the underground sound of Oakland, a city known more for its deep bass and the funky pimpery of Too Short than for backpacker hip-hop. Precocious and innovative, each member of the crew brought a unique flow and formidable lyrical weaponry to the table. Their follow-up release, No Man's Land in 1995, was a much more dark and brooding work, more scholarly gangster than whimsical. Released in 2000, Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution is a further exploration of their darker side, a murky album of edgy decadence. Gone are the Souls' funky youthful misadventures, replaced now by fully grown sharp attitudes and emotions; however, their focus on bookish word-bending remains the same. The tracks are moody and stripped down to their raw essence, the depth provided purely by the lyrical content, while the droning atonal music almost gets in the way. The album has a twisted visceral feel reflecting the more chaotic mental states of the four restless Souls. In fact, the compressed vibe of Trilogy may isolate all but the Souls' die-hard listeners. While the Souls of old were able to satisfy nouveau hippies and heads alike with their debut, their focus is much more implicit here.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,6,7,9,12,13,14 and 17)

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