Montezuma's Revenge

Souls Of Mischief | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 1, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Clear Label Records
• ASIN: B002VEEQYO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,319 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Montezuma's Revenge was created the old-fashioned way, with the MCs A-Plus, Phesto, Opio & Tajai - and producers Prince Paul & Domino - in the lab together from the beginning to the end of the recording process. "We rented a house" explains Opio. "Prince Paul came out, we had no distractions, we just did music every day. " "It was cool" adds Tajai. "He had concepts, and its good to have an outside perspective - it was a great process." The result is a cohesive, creative Hip Hop album, the kind of project you d expect from veterans like Souls of Mischief under the auspices of a genius producer like Prince Paul. Souls first encountered Prince Paul while touring with A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul back in the day. But it was on a more recent tour with Handsome Boy Modeling School that the seeds of this collaboration were planted. So what exactly is Montezuma's Revenge? Tajai comments, "We recorded the album on Montezuma Street." The final product features 18 tracks of the quality Hip Hop you ve come to expect from Hieroglyphics, with cover art by esteemed illustrator Steve Lopez (famous for his illustrations of Erykah Badu and others). Of course there s more to the title than the location of the recording, Tajai says "The deeper meaning is this album will make you cr@p yourself."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Hip-hop album released post 2000, December 6, 2009

By 

Timothy Price (melbourne) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Montezuma's Revenge (Audio CD)

Souls of Mischief have just released their first album in over 9 years entitled "Montezuma's Revenge." The album was produced by the legendary Prince Paul behind hip-hop classics from De La Soul, Gravediggaz, Stetsasonic and Handsome Boy Modelling School. Souls of Mischief stormed onto the rap scene when they were just 17 years old releasing hip-hop classics like 93 til infinity. That track is still much loved and their first album is considered one of the best hip-hop albums ever released. They followed it up with the much maligned "No Man's Land." This album remains one of the most underrated rap albums ever released. The sound was in stark contrast to their first album but the lyrics and flows were still unparalleled for the time. Souls of Mischief were always way ahead of their time. They were dropping cadences, styles and multi-syllabic flows that the rap industry is just catching on to now almost 15 years later. Their third album "Trilogy" was in much the same vein as their first 2, sticking to the tried and true formula of ridiculous lyrics over crazy beats.

Montezuma's Revenge is a new era for the Souls. They are all older, a bit more mature, and yet with this album they've retained that timeless `93 style hip-hop sound. Much credit has to go to Prince Paul for getting the very best out of Souls. Prince Paul knows how to make an album. In this age of Itunes and people only downloading tracks they like, "the album" is almost dead. Prince Paul has created something that is complete and is best consumed as such. The entire album flows from beginning to end and it covers so many styles.

I don't think you will ever find a better rap group than Souls of Mischief. They are a unified force, they come together as one and smack you over the head with those ridiculous flows and lyrical gymnastics. It is not simply a track with 4 rappers each dropping a verse. They combine together as duos or together as a foursome like in "Fourmation" dropping one line each. They follow on from each others rhymes, they drop in and out like tag team specialists.

What is special about this album is that it isn't just the tried and true hiero formula of non stop battle lyrics. They have created great songs here. "For Real Y'all" is just a driving bassline with Opio hitting the chorus over and over again. It just bumps. The hooks are also back on track. On Trilogy they become unnecessarily long and unwieldy. Things are kept simple here, Prince Paul using samples in "La La" or a simple "Tour stories, true stories" in Tour Stories. It often work's best and its why 93 til infinity still sounds good today. Think of "Never No More" as the blueprint. The topics are still varied from crazy women in "Postal," leaving women in "Lickety Split," and storytelling tracks like "You got it" and "Dead Man Walking." This combined with the signature hiero bangers like "Hiero HQ," "One," and "Poets." It's finished off withe summer BBQ track "Home Game," which really deserves a single and a music video to be released in summer 2010. That would surely help blow up the album. The track has a great feel reminiscent of other hiero hits like "You Never Knew" and "93 til Infinity."

I think what Souls of Mischief does is create albums that you can listen to over and over again. Don't listen to some reviewer who's played it a couple of times amongst 20 albums he is reviewing and given it 3 and a half stars. This album is a classic that you can listen to over and over again and till you can recite every verse. The beats are incredible, the flows and rhymes on point and the vibe an era of hip-hop in 93/94 that has never been matched. Prince Paul has always got the sound of the tracks right. Everything is not crisp and clear, he's intentionally made it sound like something from the early 90s.

Take "Proper Aim." Surely one of the greatest Souls of Mischief's tracks ever. A thick double bass line comes roaring in. Vinyl crackles, kicks and snares and the Souls hit you with that trademark flow. It really gets no better and is a great example of the quality of the album.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OLD SCHOOL WITH NEW SKOO TWIST, January 23, 2010

By 

Push (Miami, Fl.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Montezuma's Revenge (Audio CD)

93 til' infinity was one of my favorite tracks of all time. Now i've got a few more favorites!!!!!
Song titles - "One" and "Tour Stories" are both wicked tracks. But Fourmation is sick beat beautifully mastered that I just can't stop listening to!! Jeez man, this album is great. I missed these guys for soo long. Ah, and one last track to note.. "For Real Y'all"... That's the track I want to hear before a fight or a nasty football game!! Get you PUMPED .. lol

I haven't bought a hip hop album in few years.. these dudes torched the mic! they always do.. best music purchase i've made in a while..lol

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily in the top Ten hip-hop albums released this decade, November 4, 2011

By 

Joseph M. Moreno - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Montezuma's Revenge (Audio CD)

Something crazy is happening to me... in the past year and a half I have been freaking on old-school hip-hop (the essence). I've never payed any attention to it before (I'm 23 now). My cd collection mostly consists of stuff like: Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Of Montreal, Elliott Smith, Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Stereolab, Leonard Cohen, Pixies, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Fugazi, Gorillaz, etc., etc.

But damn have I been missing out! From Ultramagnetic MCs and Kool Keith (Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Masters of Illusion, Project Polaroid) to KMD and MF Doom; Gang Starr and the Guru; Souls of Mischief and Del; Wu-Tang Clan, Genius/GZA, the RZA, Raekwon; Madlib/Quasimoto - behind the boards of Madvillain!; Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth; A Tribe Called Quest.... I could keep going. I have spent so much friggin money trying to catch up on all this

Anyway... This album has got "the essence" and more! 5 Stars all the way. Great beats and production, great lyrics and rhymes. These guys are friggin legitimate for doing what they do! Poets of a culture very different from my own. But I get it, I think. heh.