Happy 25th Anniversary to The Nonce’s debut album World Ultimate, originally released February 28, 1995.
The Good Life Café was one of the all-time great talent incubators in hip-hop history. The health food store, located in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, transformed into an open mic night on Thursday nights throughout the 1990s. Many emcees from Southern California made their bones and honed their skills in this ultra-competitive crucible. It brought artists from around the country, and even the world, to kick their rhymes and workshop their material.
I’ve written about Freestyle Fellowship, a crew of the brightest stars to emerge from this scene, but The Nonce are another overlooked success story. The duo, made up of Lance “Nouka Basetype” Caldwell and Byron “Yusef Afloat” Jackson, were also mainstays at the Good Life. There, they became renowned for their versatility as artists, since they both rapped and produced their own beats.
Using their skills, The Nonce recorded and released their debut album World Ultimate 25 years ago. It’s an enduring yet underappreciated classic that sounds just as fresh today as it did a quarter of a century ago. If Freestyle Fellowship were the Ornette Colemans of Los Angeles hip-hop, The Nonce would be Grover Washington or George Benson. As much as the Fellowship were aggressive and bombastic, The Nonce were mellow and smooth.
The Nonce are often compared to A Tribe Called Quest, and the description is pretty apt, and not just because Yusef has a vocal resemblance to Q-Tip. The crew’s beats are jazzy and expertly crafted, with the group piecing together samples from a multitude of sources and blending them together into a thick but velvety concoction.
The group is also a bit eclectic; for those that don’t know “Nonce” literally means the creation of a word, and their music reflects their left-of-center sensibilities. They fit into the lane of the Ahmads and Skee-Los of the world (both also products of the Good Life scene), but with more of an edge.
Nouka and Yusef first met while attending high school in Los Angeles, sharing a love of music and DJing. After graduating, the pair formed The Nonce and began recording material together. In 1992, the pair released a single, “The Picnic Song,” on the fledgling Wild West Records. It was an upbeat summer jam, reminiscent of De La Soul’s “A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays.’” It hinted at the group’s eventual artistic direction, but showed they had some room to grow.
The Nonce became best known for the track “Mix Tapes,” the four-track version of which first appeared on the 1994 Project: Blowed compilation. Around the same time, Wild West secured a distribution deal with Rick Rubin’s American Records, and the group set about recording World Ultimate.
“Mix Tapes” was World Ultimate’s first single; the duo slightly remixed and built on the original version, adding a verse from Yusef and a scratch outro. The track is ostensibly about the pair’s love for creating mix tapes, detailing the time and care that they put into their craft while they work the two turntables, perfecting their blending and scratching technique. Even for those of us who’ve recorded many a mixtape during their lifetimes, it’s pretty easy to relate to.
But beyond that, the song is about Nouka and Yusef reflecting on their love for hip-hop music, especially during an era when the music seemed more “pure.” Few have articulated the rush that comes from DJing or performing like Nouka as he raps, “Money, really wasn't part of the rap / Paid, was having people start to clap/ Getting ready for the break, your heart starts to race / You was hyped, ’cause I could see it on your face.”
World Ultimate is at its best at moments like this, where the duo reflect on the simple pleasures of life. “Bus Stops,” the album’s second single, is another fine example of simplicity in concept and execution. Both Nouka and Yusef rap about appreciating women while either waiting for the bus or riding it throughout the city. Composed of smooth keyboard grooves and crispy drums, it definitely sports a feel reminiscent of Tribe’s “Bonita Applebum.”
The Nonce open World Ultimate with a pair tracks where they reflect on their journey to get to where they are releasing a full-length album. On the introspective “On the Air, the two remind themselves to stay grounded and not let any success they achieve over-inflate their egos. The pair detail their hard-fought efforts to get signed and release material on the decidedly more upbeat “Keep It On,” navigating shady label executives as they work to realize their dream. “Make a deal with the devil? I'd rather trust my eye,” Yusef raps. “Drop the wax and packs play the ball where it lies.”
You can also hear the Good Life Café battle-oriented influence throughout World Ultimate. Both the title and “Good To Go” are soaked in the lyrical braggadocio common to the venue, as Nouka and Yusef display some of their best stylistic exhibitions on both tracks. Meanwhile, songs like “The West Is…” and “Hood Like To Play” are some of the most placidly confrontational tracks that I can remember hearing.
Otherwise, The Nonce do well at putting their spin on frequently traversed subject matter, but still making it sound fresh and breezy. They deal with the grind of touring on “On the Road Again,” then preach the importance of practicing safe sex on “J To The I.” “Eighty Five” is a brief tribute to hip-hop’s early era, with Nouka reciting old school routines over a bouncy, static-filled beat.
World Ultimate is a prime example of an album that was released during the wrong season. It hit the shelves during late winter, when it’s clearly a spring or summer album. It’s meant to be enjoyed on warm and breezy days with a glass of lemonade or even a cold brew.
World Ultimate was sadly the only full-length that The Nonce ever released. Even though Wild West eventually lost its distribution through American Records, The Nonce were still able to put together a follow-up EP, The Sight of Things (1998). It was a much moodier, darker project, but one that still had tons of artistic merit. Around the same time, Nouka adopted Sach Illpages as his new nom-de-plume and released a cassette-only album.
Tragedy struck in 2000 when Yusef passed. He was found dead in the middle of the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles in the dead of the night. The circumstances surrounding his death remain unknown.
The group still has a loyal following. Sach has continued to record and release material through the mid-2010s, and continues to maintain an underground following. A few years ago, the group’s early material was unearthed and released as 1990 (2018).
It would have been nice if The Nonce had received a little recognition when they first released their material. World Ultimate deserves to be included with the other timeless classics of its era. Personally, it goes back into my rotation every spring and summer, reminding me of the simple pleasure of making mix tapes and just sitting back and enjoying life.
LISTEN: