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Damn right you can't judge a book by the cover! Soce, The
Elemental Wizard needs help, graphically speaking. This one
nearly got pitched on sight. But since we put everything on to
see exactly how bad it is, there was a roomful of cats with jaws
on the floor. Suddenly I'm hearing the staccato rap of Grandmaster
Flash and Whodini all over again.
Soce is a composer of merit. Lively beats, clever rhymes and
great instrumentation underwrite catchy melodies. And his production
skills on this shit show why the kids are clamoring to have him
twiddling their knobs. "I'm That" sounds dead-on like
Eminem with a self-deprecating sense of humor (which he
sorely needs.) "Though my beats will make y'all have to bounce/my
flow ain't worth half an ounce/I'm like skim milk/ lean beef with
no phat/my vocal tones screech like a cat." There's not a
sample on the whole disc. Mostly programmed keyboards with some
guitar, and even violin. I wouldn't mind a bit of Klezmer on the
next one. (Soce is as Yiddish as the Beastie Boys and 2
Live Jews stuffed into a knish.)
And speaking of funny, Soce isn't in the closet. He's proud
to be a geek. He offers not one, but two hip-hop songs built around
Dungeons And Dragons. Word on the street is, he nearly called
himself Ever Qwest. Oh yeah, and he is gay so there's more songs
about mackin on the fellas than your average Ghostface release.
Soce works some R&B into the joint in a Rick Astley
crooning sort of way. It's a little bit cheesy, but I swear it
sounds pretty damn good. The guy can really sing. Except during
"Going Further" which must've been a bad day for the
Soce. Worst track on the record. Be sure to check out his labyrinth
of a website. (How he gets any rapping done I'll never know, dude's
got more obsessions than Michael Jackson.) The consensus
at Hybrid is that we want to get into Soce's posse... I said POSSE!
-Ewan Wadharmi
Track List:
1. Feels Good
2. I'm That
3. News
4. Work/Play
5. RPG Interlude
6. H but H
7. Broken Heart
8. Not Wanted
9. Wistful Breeze
10. Magnifying Glass
11. I Miss You
12. Going Further
13. Be Mine
14. State of Affairs
15. 7 HP
16. Funny Feeling
17. Bonus Track #1
18. [Silence]
19. Bonus Track #2
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Soce,
The Elemental Wizard
