Souls of Mischief 's Tajai Massey on the lasting power of '93 ‘til Infinity'

Tajai Massey, of ’90s hip-hop legends Souls of Mischief, wonders what his 18-year-old self would think about the album he and his friends created in 1993, "93 ‘til Infinity," 30 years later.

“We made this record when we were kids,” Massey told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel. “Part of the reason that it's relatable and has this sort of long-lasting effect for youth culture is that it's frozen in time, this sort of youth where you're transitioning from childhood to adulthood.”

Massey and the Souls of Mischief — A-Plus, Opio and Phesto — will perform at the Middle East club in Cambridge Saturday. It’s part of a worldwide tour celebrating the 30^th anniversary of their album, "93 ‘til Infinity," recorded when members of the group were in their late teens and writing about their lives in East Oakland, California.

Three decades later, Massey said, a lot of the people at Souls of Mischief shows are still between 18 and 25.

“We're talking about things that are issues for everybody at that age,” he said. “Are we going to join a gang or not? Girls, you know, hanging out with our friends, chilling, all the things that were going around during that time, they're just as relevant now.”

That may be why the album has stayed relevant in youth culture, he said, even outside hip-hop and rap circles.

Souls of Mischief’s debut album was a product of a decade of work that came before it, Massey said.

“'93 'til Infinity' was just the culmination, I guess, of our first 10 years as just kids growing up in hip-hop,” he said. “We started rapping about seven or eight years old. By the time we were 17, 18, we were signed to a major label and working on our first album. So we definitely put in our 10,000 hours and it ended up being sort of lightning in a bottle.”

In the last three decades, Souls of Mischief have released five albums. Their music has seen commercial success, being featured in a Gatorade commercial during the 2017 NBA Finals. Indie band Vampire Weekend interpolated the song “Step to My Girl” in their 2013 song “Step.”

“I like what they did with it, how they interpolated it. They didn't just bite,” Massey said.

Seeing their music take on a life of its own has been gratifying, Massey said.

“We were growing up listening to Pharoah Sanders, Miles Davis and Janis Joplin,” Massey said. “These things last beyond. The whole point of making music is for it to take on a life of its own. It's not really to tour and be rappers. It's to give to the world a piece of ourselves.”

He thinks they knew that when they made "93 ‘til Infinity," in some way.

“I think we understood that as kids,” Massey said. “I mean, you know, as much as a kid can understand that at that age.”