For the second time in one week, Capital Ballroom had a sold-out show. Keeping in mind that it’s still the first week of August, that’s incredible and should be noted. This sold-out show came in the form of Oakland, California’s Souls of Mischief. Day 80 of their 93 ‘Til Infinity 30th Anniversary Tour rolled into town on August 5th, 2023, and would feature additional sets by Breakbeat Lou, The Architect, and Victoria’s very own DJ Degree One.
The night started out with Degree, which set the tone for the night. Golden age hip-hop, that was the standard, and Degree knows how to do that well. This made for a great way to enter the venue. It almost felt like I had gone back in time. It should be noted that I was not alive in the early ’90s, but I’d assume this is how it felt. Overall, great vibe setter for the night we had ahead of us.
After that, we had our first opener from the tour, The Architect. Geared with a turntable and a controller, The Architect played some of the best cuts I’ve heard in a minute. I’ve always been a big fan of deejaying full songs, but there’s something about creating stuff on the fly that is so impressive to me. A really great set by him and made way for our final opener.
Breakbeat Lou, Souls of Mischief’s official DJ, spun an amazing throwback set. The crowd was hooked and singing every lyric to some of hip-hop’s greatest tracks, like The Pharcyde’s Passin’ Me By with that catchy organ rift on a drum pleasing beat. Being an official DJ is quite the title, but Breakbeat Lou proves why he is the one for the job.
The Rap A-Team Souls of Mischief had finally made their way to the stage. A-Plus, Opio, Phesto Dee, and Tajai had one goal for the night, to bring us back to that classic catalog of great west coast hip-hop and they did just that. Rap groups are hard to come by nowadays, but I can understand why. These groups need to have impeccable chemistry to really draw in the crowd. Souls of Mischief are one of those groups with that strong chemistry and during the night, they even gave a shoutout to other chemistry strong groups, like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul (RIP Trugoy the Dove). By the end of the night, there was only one more track we needed to hear. 93 ‘Til Infinity, from its lyricism to the overall beat of the track, it is a song that will stand the test of time, and it felt good to hear it live.
It was nice to celebrate a piece of history. As time moves, it’s important to keep these albums alive as they were the building blocks of our artists today. Souls of Mischief treated Victoria to a wonderful show and I hope they find their way back to town very soon.
