Souls Of Mischief: Adrian Younge Presents: There Is Only Now [LINEAR LABS]

Why you'll love it

This pressing comes in a slipcase with etched runouts. Adrian Younge produced every track by hand with samples, tape and analog gear, and reviewers praised its story-driven flow.

This edition

• Slipcase packaging
• Etched runouts

About the album

Oakland's Souls Of Mischief, Opio, A-Plus, Phesto and Tajai, had been rapping together for over two decades when Adrian Younge handed them a script. There Is Only Now opens with the crew nearly killed by an unhinged man, then spends the rest of the record following everything that grew out of that one night.

Younge, a composer and former law professor, scored it like a film, aiming for Bob James and Herbie Hancock backing up the Native Tongues. Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest narrates through the "K-NOW" segments, "Panic Struck" is built to set your nerves jangling, Busta Rhymes appears as Womack on "Womack's Lament," William Hart sings on "Another Part Of You" and Snoop Dogg drops in on the title track. "Miriam Got A Mickey" and "Ghetto Superhero" took the most work to get right, and Scarub turns up as Stoney on "Stone Cold."

Younge compared Muhammad's role to RZA's narration on Ghostface Killah's Twelve Reasons To Die, which Younge also produced. XXL gave it four out of five, and Exclaim! singled out the drums, keys and string touches. Bring a pen, though; the plot does keep moving.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Linear Labs (cat# LL005), a reissue of the 2014 album.