HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - There Is Only Now
OR:
There Is Only Now on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

''There Is Only Now'' is the sixth
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by American hip hop group
Souls of Mischief Souls of Mischief is a hip hop group from Oakland, California, that is also part of the hip hop collective Hieroglyphics. The Souls of Mischief formed in 1991 and is composed of rappers A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai. History East Oakland ...
. The album was released on August 26, 2014, by Linear Labs. The album features
guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...
s from
Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...
,
William Hart William Hart, also Will, Willy, Bill, or Billy Hart may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William Hart (actor) (died 1650), English Caroline actor * William Hart (painter) (1823–1894), Scottish-American painter * William Hart (singer) (1945– ...
,
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
and
Scarub Armon Collins, better known by his stage name Scarub, is an American rapper and record producer from Los Angeles, California. He is a member of the collective Living Legends. He has also been a member of Log Cabin, 3 Melancholy Gypsys, and Afro ...
.


Background

In a July 2013, interview on Hip-Hop Nation, the album's producer
Adrian Younge Adrian Younge (born May 7, 1978) is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area. Background Younge grew up in Fontana, California, United States. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doct ...
announced the album, saying: "The next project is Adrian Younge Presents Souls of Mischief. That’s my next big thing and I’m super happy about that. It’s a project that if somebody misses the sounds of ''
93 'til Infinity ''93 'til Infinity'' is the debut studio album by American hip-hop group Souls of Mischief. It was released on September 28, 1993, on the Jive label. Composition The sound of ''93 'til Infinity'' is characteristic of the distinct style explored ...
'' meets ''
The Low End Theory ''The Low End Theory'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on September 24, 1991, by Jive Records. Recording sessions for the album were held mostly at Battery Studios in New York City, from 1990 to ...
'' meets ''
De La Soul Is Dead ''De La Soul Is Dead'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on May 13, 1991. The album was produced by Prince Paul, whose work on ''3 Feet High and Rising'' was highly praised by music critics. The album was ...
''. If somebody misses that kind of sound, they’ll be happy to hear this album because it goes back to that time, you know. Kind of like how the Ghostface album '12 Reasons To Die''">12_Reasons_To_Die.html" ;"title="'12 Reasons To Die">'12 Reasons To Die''kind of went back to that time. And I love both styles of music back then, so I’m very, very excited." He continued: "And it’s also a concept album too — Souls of Mischief almost gets killed by some dude that was just crazy and the whole album just starts off with this incident, and then it blossoms into these different stories that are a result of this volatile incident. And that’s basically what that album is about. It’s dope though. It’s really dope. As far as stylistically, it’s kind of like if Bob James and Herbie Hancock">Bob James (musician)">Bob James and Herbie Hancock recorded with Q-Tip (musician)">Q-Tip Cotton swabs (American English) or cotton buds (British English), also Q-tips ( proprietary eponym), are wads of cotton wrapped around a short rod made of wood, rolled paper, or plastic. They are most commonly used for ear cleaning, although th ...
back in the day, you know what I’m saying. That’s the perspective on the album. I was with Ali Shaheed Muhammad yesterday showing him some of the stuff and he was totally getting it because he’s going to be the narrator on this album, like how RZA was sort of the narrator for Ghostface Killah, Ghost 12 Reasons">12_Reasons_To_Die.html" ;"title="n 12 Reasons To Die">12 Reasons that’s what Shaheed’s going to be doing. It’s Native Tongues shit, you know what I’m saying, so that’s what I’m super psyched about. I mean it’s done now; I’m just touching stuff up. But it’s pretty much done. It’s going to be released in September." In an August 2014 interview with
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
, he spoke about how he produced the album, saying: "You’re doing it over the course of an album, so you have to understand what the different moods are throughout the album and once you understand those points of progress within the story are you compositionally illustrate music that denotes that feeling. So there’s one part where everybody’s panicking—that song’s actually called "Panic Struck"—so I wanted to make something that feels kind of jarring and pervasive, in your face, temperamental. Then there's a song about love so I want something that feels like love, there's a song where there's a finale closing out the whole story, the whole plot line. So I want to make it seem like a chase scene to the end. So it all depends on what's going on because I'm a
film composer A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
first, so I like to approach my music cinematically." He spoke about if there were songs on the album that were difficult to produce, saying: "Yes, there was a lot of difficulty because I always try to outdo myself. So I set very high standards because I kind of want to be an exemplary example of who I should be as an artist. I always compare myself to what I did last, so I’ve got to try and beat what I did last I’m always upping my own bar. It’s one of those things that creates a lot of difficulty just for myself, but it’s the kind of difficulty I need to embrace because it makes me a better artist. And I do not want to be one of those artists that falls off later, I want to be one of those artists that is continually pushing the bar. But going back to certain songs on the album that were more difficult than others, I would say. There’s a song called "Miriam Got a Mickey" that was pretty difficult, there's a song called "Ghetto Superhero" that wasn't that easy. I mean there's a lot of... it all ranges. A lot of it is just, you know everything I do is samples. It's tape, analog, hardware, hand crafted music and soul. It's not just creating a loop; every single thing has to be done by hand. A lot of it is just tedious."


Critical reception

''There Is Only Now'' received positive reviews from
music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...
s. Homer Johnsen of
HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...
said, "Philosophically, the message on ''There Is Only Now'' is an intelligent one, as is the case with most things Hiero. Part of the experience is hearing the story as it unfolds, but at the same time, the Souls of Mischief are dealing with concepts like the Theory of Relativity, and experiencing life while being fully present. Like the album itself, the cast of guest appearances is minimal, yet praiseworthy for its originality. Busta Rhymes and Scarub (Living Legends) portray Womack and Stoney, two characters in the story, while Snoop Dogg supplies some wisdom of his own on the title-track. The seamless listen from beginning to end, and the intricacy of the story itself make it almost possible to listen to ''There Is Only Now'' just once." Kevin Jones of ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
'' stated, "Fresh, crisp drums, creamy keys, luxuriant strings and timely flute and horn flourishes, each held together by a series of mood-defining bass lines, work to soundtrack this production, an inspiring foil that the record's MCs make certain not to waste on this grand testament to Souls' skill and staying power." Sheldon Pearce of '' XXL'' said, "With ''There Is Only Now'', Souls of Mischief turn out a prize just short of a solid masterpiece. It tremors along steadily, churning out consistently good but not great mini narratives, and it does so with flair but with little change of pace. Still, it is the realization of an ambitious idea seen through to its conclusion, and it is an exceptional attempt to push rap to its limits as a medium."


Track listing

*All tracks produced by
Adrian Younge Adrian Younge (born May 7, 1978) is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area. Background Younge grew up in Fontana, California, United States. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doct ...
.


References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Souls of Mischief albums Albums produced by Adrian Younge