Eight years between Hiero Imperium (1998) and Focus (2006). Eight years during which hip-hop changed entirely, underground rap found new homes on the internet, and countless fans wondered if Souls of Mischief would ever make another album. When Focus arrived, it answered all those questions simultaneously: yes, they were back; no, they hadn’t lost a step; and in some ways, they were better than ever.
The Gap
The eight-year gap between Souls of Mischief albums wasn’t inactivity — the members had been working on individual projects, collaborating within the Hiero collective, and building the independent infrastructure that allowed Focus to exist on their own terms. But albums from the group as a unit were absent, and that absence was felt.
By 2006, the hip-hop landscape had shifted dramatically. The early-’90s era that produced 93 ’Til Infinity felt distant. The mainstream had moved through several complete aesthetic cycles. An 8-year-old album as your most recent output is a significant deficit in a genre that treats recency as currency.
Souls responded by making something that didn’t engage with the commercial landscape at all. Focus is a Souls of Mischief record: it sounds like 1993 and 2006 simultaneously, which is to say it sounds timeless in the way that only artists with genuine aesthetic convictions can manage.
The Production
A-Plus handles the majority of production on Focus, and the album showcases his development as a beatmaker over the intervening years. The boom-bap foundation remains, but the arrangements are sharper and more modern than the crew’s earlier work. This isn’t nostalgia production — it’s the same aesthetic sensibility applied with a decade of additional craft.
The drums are crisper. The samples are deployed with more precision. The overall mix is cleaner. Focus sounds like an album made by producers who had spent eight years improving their skills, which is exactly what it is.
The MCs
All four Souls members — Tajai, A-Plus, Opio, and Phesto — sound hungry on Focus. There’s an energy here that late-career records rarely achieve: the urgency of artists who feel they have something to prove, combined with the confidence of artists who know exactly who they are.
The technical level hasn’t dropped. If anything, the added years of experience show in tighter construction and more purposeful delivery. Phesto in particular delivers some of his most economical and effective performances on the album — eight years of continued development concentrated into a record that demands to be heard.
Standout Tracks
Focus
The title track is the mission statement. Lean, purposeful, and immediate — everything the album needs to be on track one. A-Plus’s production is among his best, and all four MCs step up.
Get Your Head Right
One of the album’s most groove-forward moments. Accessible without being compromised, it demonstrates Souls’ ability to make music that’s immediately enjoyable and technically rewarding simultaneously.
We Get Around
The kind of crew track Souls have always done better than almost anyone: all four voices in sequence, the tag-team energy tight and purposeful, the production giving everyone space to breathe.
The Legacy of Focus
Focus reminded listeners who had been waiting — and introduced Souls to a new generation who discovered them through the internet — that this was a group operating at a genuinely high level regardless of the commercial landscape around them.
It also paved the way for There Is Only Now (2014), the Adrian Younge collaboration that would become one of the most critically acclaimed Hiero-adjacent records of the following decade. Without Focus proving the group’s continued vitality, that record might not have happened.
Stream and Buy
Available on major streaming platforms and Bandcamp. For the complete Souls of Mischief experience, work through the discography in order: 93 ’Til Infinity → No Man’s Land → Hiero Imperium → Focus → There Is Only Now.