When you think of Arizona, you think of heat. You don’t necessarily think Hip Hop. But The Society of Invisibles plan on changing that. A roster of acts coming straight from the AZ was complied into the concoction that is T.S.O.I. They branched out on a mission: to bring Hip Hop back, they boldly claim. Backed by Babygrande Records, which boasts a roster of acts such as Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind Tricks, Apathy and more, the crew seems poised to impress.

Upon listening to the full length, the beats create a range of varying backdrops for the emcees. Standouts such as Caleb Winner, Goose Bumps and Tech Connect show off the production wizardry. Composed with the nostalgia of early 90’s Hip Hop, it creates a soothing balance between raw and smooth. However, many times, the instrumentation clearly overshadows the rhyming/flows on each track. Case in point: “On My Way,” a potentially hot track brought down only by a horribly sung chorus. Nevertheless, a majority of the album’s beats have that vintage feel. At times, they even come through with an updated version – “Dial M for Murder” being one instance. Simply put, the beats are what truly make this album worth listening to.

While sample driven cuts take it back to the Wu-Tang days, the emcees get their Shaolin on in Phoenix too. Sadly, this is no 36 Chambers. The crew seems misguided. While the beats keep the listener in tune, the rhyming can at times be flat-out amateurish. Not to be mistaken, some of the emcees can rap and rap well. Multi-syllable patterns are all over this piece. However, the amateurism takes effect when the cohesiveness of the album is lost. Many times, the emcees simply spit raw for entire songs (no hook, no break) which can be refreshing, but not when an emcee comes out of left field with weak rhyme schemes and a horrible flow to mess up the groove.

The worst part of this is in the murderous posturing. After a listen, the crew would have you believe they are psychotic. After all, rapping about being “down with Bin Laden...the Klu Klux” and “down to f*ck a b*tch with AIDS” doesn’t exactly seem like the knowledgeable thing to do. Throughout the LP, TSOI rhyme about unspeakable topics such as wiping themselves with Bible pages and being down with rapists, fictional monster creatures and “nutting“ on dead women‘s mouths. The album is drenched with gore, dripping with terror, driven by shock-value lyrics that simply sound contrived. Many of the rhymes are even too ridiculous to mention.

Nonetheless, the album’s worth a listen. The beats are a refreshing batch of Hip Hop and a taste of what AZ producers have in store. If the emcees could place their formidable skills on more compelling topics, as opposed to trying to use shock value as a vehicle, the album would be a much better composed piece. With G-Unit’s Hot Rod coming out of Arizona as well, The Society of the Invisibles may not be the ones who officially put AZ on the rap map. But, with the potential they show here, they just need to make sure they don’t stay “invisible” for long, and that might be the hard part.