And what is the criteria you used for judging?


I'm not ready to answer yet.


We can do this with Native Tongues or Dungeon Family next if y'all care to participate.

Hard to put together the criteria for this (judging by their peak or where they are now). And I feel bad leaving cats off this list.


1. Casual. Not only the nicest emcee in the crew, but the nicest emcee to ever come out of the Bay Area. One of, if not, the nicest from the West Coast. Extremely skilled, varied content, and some excellent and under-appreciated albums.

2. Opio. From 2000 on, he's been the nicest in the crew not named Casual. And even before then, he was #2 at worst in Souls during their initial hey day. Lots of really dope projects in the '00s and '10s.

3. Del. His first four albums are unfuckwitable and killed it on the Hiero compilations. But his solo output has been kind of a mess post-"11th Hour" (which itself was solid, but not spectacular). He's been doing good guest appearances lately though.

4. Phesto. He was probably the greenest in the beginning, but he's the benefit of another post-2000 surge. His 2010s album were pretty intereting too.


Of those I left off:

A-Plus: He was my favorite member of Souls during the '90s. I feel like he slipped a bit during the 21st century. Of the solo albums by the Souls members during the '00s, I liked his the least. However, he's been the proverbial comeback trail lately. Liked everything he did with Architect last year A LOT.

Pep Love: He was fierce in the late '90s and early '00s, and again always comes correct and Hiero comps and guest appearances. But his output has slowed to a trickle. The First Light album with Opio was flames, but it's from back in 2013.

Tajai: Another dude I liked but who's output is virtually non-existent in the last decade. He does a lot of the behind the scenes biz for the crew, but he's barely even recording guest appearances anymore. I do hope that album with Architect does become a reality.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

I think two, but one might have been a remix album.

I'll have to re-listen. It's been forever since I heard it.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

1. D-E-L the legend.
2. Opio, solo albums have been solid as hell. A lot of great tracks beyond his Souls/Hiero stuff. Beat ear for beats out of the whole crew, easily.
3. Casual , the style is still impeccable though many lackluster releases over the years have hurt his standing a bit. Could’ve used better quality control.
4. A-Plus because his energy is amazing and has comedy in his rhymes as well

Tajai and Pep have skills to spare but are too one-note in their delivery for me. Appreciate both way more on group tracks.

Del, Pep, Casual and Ope..you know he’s dope.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

1. Casual - Flamboyance, vocal dexterity, lyrics, flows, syllables, good blend of street machismo and conscious styles, supreme confidence, unique voice/accent.

2. Del tha Funkee Homosapien - Flow is not as tight as it used to be but I attribute that to his more freeform nature these days.. like Picasso in his later days. Still the most unique and effortlessly fresh emcee of the bunch. His voice drips with flavor. The soul of Hiero IMO

3. Pep Love - Tight flows/lyrics/cadences, probably the most slept on of the pack. The Inspektah Deck of Hieroglyphics.

4. Opio - I was going to go with A-Plus because I like his voice the best out of SOM. Phesto has a lot of flavor. Tajai projects strength. I would say Opio, despite having my least favorite voice out of the Souls, is the most well rounded as an emcee.

Only have surface level knowledge of them overall though. I know Fear Itself, 93 Til Infinity, and some of Del’s stuff. Maybe I’ll dive deeper soon.

I’m in for Native Tongues, Dungeon Family, Hit Squad, Boot Camp Clik, Juice Crew, DITC, or Justus League though.