soce, the elemental wizard "The Lemonade Incident"

    "Hey, what's up?! We all have different qualities which help to define who we are. In this song, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself-- who I am..." That's soce, the elemental wizard on the opening track of his new CD, before he launches into "Yo! Yo! Yo! ... I am (So Gay). I really am (So Gay) ..." With that intro, soce (pronounced so-SAY), the elemental wizard, AKA soce tew, ushers us in to the next phase of his hip hop after-hours party. Performing at a non-stop pace in New York City's formative downtown music scene with an infectious, charismatic energy, he's shocking even his fans with a new lyrical boldness which explore not only gay identity but the unapologetic joys (and not-so-joyous moments) of... gay sex! Yeah, it's hip hop, and it's gay. But you won't hear any neutered "coming out" songs or pre-fab pop tunes with ambiguous pronouns on this CD. You will hear (get ready!), "I suck so much dick I'm getting sick of this; My dick-sucking capabilities are limitless!" For those scenesters that can't get enough of the self-styled performer, there's good news: soce, New York City's most prominent JGWMC (Jewish Gay White MC), has a new full-length CD, the in-your-face "The Lemonade Incident". In addition to the killer opening track "(I Am) So Gay", the CD includes many moments guaranteed to be the musical effect of downing a Red Bull-- and a lot of the tracks on "The Lemonade Incident" have already become audience favorites at soce's live shows, including "SD", "Work/Play the 'Bar Mitzvah' Remix", and "Sad and Lonely".

    "The Lemonade Incident" doesn't sound very much like its predecessor "I Am In My Own World"-- and good for soce. Not that I wasn't a huge fan of that album. In fact, I'll be bold enough to say that "I Am In My Own World" is just about as perfect a hip hop CD as you're likely to find. But, "The Lemonade Incident" takes a different turn, starting with that quirky title (the meaning of which, incidentally, soce has yet to reveal). While the style and sound is definitely soce's street-smart persona and trademark humor, the focus of his sophomore effort is a bit more narrow: it explores a side of the rapper that we haven't seen yet, and it breaks taboos in both gay and hip hop cultures in the process. After the intro of "(I Am) So Gay", soce wastes no time in offering a no-holes-barred mantra of gay identity for a new generation: "I am a HOMO, That's what I do; I'm feelin' kind of hot, what's up with you? You wanna suck my dick? You wana ass-fuck? But never 69, that number is bad luck!" A truly funky, cutting-edge New York City moment comes when you're watching a live audience react to soce's performance of "Lemonade"'s second track, "SD"-- and no, that doesn't stand for "South Dakota"! The deliciously dirty tune begins with a musical intro that almost sounds like a rhythm from Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time"... but what follows instead is the perfect antidote for Britney's cock-tease persona. "SD", which features an absolutely a-dick-tive chorus, never fails to illicit joy from the gay guys, gasps from the more "genteel" members of the audience, and outright shock from the straight people in the crowd (Talk about, ahem, wide open mouths...) "SD" is an ode to the joys of giving head as opposed to receiving it, and it's the hottest song about oral sex since Lil Kim and Sisqo asked the tittilating question "How Many Licks?" If you didn't get enough, there's also an unplugged piano-and-vocals version of "SD" later on in the CD which gives the listener a slightly different effect. In case you haven't guessed by now, this CD is dirty. How dirty is it? Dirtier than soce's hip hop peer Emimem, "Dirrty-er" than pop tart Christina Aguliera, and even rivaling the bad girl of queer music Jayne County. (Lest we forget, Jayne gave us songs with titles like "Cream In My Jeans" and "I Got Fucked By the Devil Last Night") But you can only say "Fuck me!" or its equivalent so many times without sounding like a desperate horndog unless you have the musical skill to back it up. And as we've seen before, soce delivers-- with a cornucopia of clever lyrics, state-of-the-art musical effects, and an oh-so-wicked sense of humor. Although he seems to have an endless supply of lyrical tricks under that trademark felt wizard hat, the CD features more than just straight rapping. He pays tribute to the granddaddies of hip hop: '70's-influenced soul and R&B. He often layers his raps with that style in the same song, and the effect is impressive. "HATAH" actually has soce rapping some uncharacteristically acidic lyrics ("You are your average faggot-hating masturbating MC, whackin' off to naked bitches on your cable TV...") superimposed onto a jazz track. Hard to imagine? You gotta hear it to believe it! Almost as if to give his listeners a cool-down session and give us a taste of his of his full-range of vocal skills, soce goes full stripped-down funk-and-soul (Think Isaac Hayes or Marvin Gaye) with "I Need You" and "Talk to Me", two tracks that are more bedroom than back room. It's enough to make you ask, "Is that soce singing? The same guy who's rapping, 'I'm the gayest MC on the planet, I get more men than janet, and I know you can't stand it!'?" "The Lemonade Incident" also features some lighthearted indulgences like "Bad Hair Day" ("'Tip your head back,' a girl told me... But I can't deal with that, I'm not a chick, I'm a homey!") -- a subject we can all relate to-- and "Robotics", something of a pre-pubescent computer- whiz fantasy come to sprout. It presumably gives us a look into soce's childhood affinities-- which we suspect included video games-- right down to the song's '80's- influenced musical pops and electronic bridges. After all, he didn't grow up in South New York--- and never pretended that he did, even rapping about his background it in "Elemental Intro": "I grew up in the meadow, it's different from the ghetto." A real shot of adrenanline comes with the audience-pleasing pinnacle of popcraft "Sad & Lonely"-- and you can see the video for that song at www.socetew.com/sad.htm. There are also two "hidden" tracks on the CD, which of course wouldn't be hidden anymore if I revealed what they were... but let's just say that if you're a soce fan by now, you'll recognize the songs as soce, the elemental wizard in classic form.

    Like the groundbreaking 2003 CD, "I Am In My Own World", "The Lemonade Incident" is expertly crafted, musically intricate, and ultimately addictive... and it's a much-needed middle finger in the face of the new uptight, Clear Channel-ized America. The new album is soce's equivalent of Madonna's 1994 CD "Erotica"-- an artistic exploration of sex, not just sexuality. Soce has yet to release a coffee table-quality book of erotic photographs and stories to go along with the CD... but just like many people questioned "Is this the real Madonna?" when she was at her sex-drenched climax, many soce fans will ponder, "Is this the real soce, or is he just rapping about this? Well, we may never know... but just keep listening, and be ready for surprises... 'cause, to quote the JGWMC himself, "that's what happens when you're fucking with soce!"