Back in 2023, we caught Souls of Mischief on their 30th Anniversary Tour, where they rocked two sold-out shows at Adelaide Hall in Toronto as they celebrated 30 years since releasing 93 ‘Til Infinity. It was at those shows that they hinted at one day returning with the rest of the Hieroglyphics crew, and now that day has finally arrived. For the first time in nearly two decades, the entire Hieroglyphics crew, including Souls of Mischief (Tajai, Opio, A-Plus & Phesto D), Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Casual, Pep Love, Domino and DJ Toure, have united for a concert in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Oakland, California-based group have embarked on The 360 Tour, which has seen them do a run of shows in the mid-west and east coast of USA and Canada throughout the month of March, with this show in Toronto marking the halfway point of the tour. While Toronto Hip-Hop heads have had plenty opportunities to witness concerts in recent years featuring Souls of Mischief as well as Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, either as a solo artist or as part of the group Deltron 3030, for many fans (including myself), this would be a first chance at seeing the entire Hieroglyphics crew fully united. Fans of the underground definitely did not want to miss this.
The Hieroglyphics crew are known for establishing some of the foundations of independent Hip-Hop as we know it today. After several of the crew’s members individually had some bad experiences dealing with major labels in the early ’90s, they founded their own company, Hieroglyphics Emporium, gaining full control of their music since 1997 and releasing new music on their own terms. They were also innovative in being one of the first groups to use the internet to connect directly to their fans and market themselves. Their 3rd eye logo is one of Hip-Hop’s most recognizable, representing musical freedom from the corporate industry, and a sense of independence and ownership that they still have to this day, as experienced first-hand by fans who lined up both before and after the show to buy t-shirts with that famous logo at a merch booth ran directly by Tajai.
Although as a group they’ve only released one full-length album each decade, their latest being 2013’s The Kitchen, Hieroglyphics have quietly maintained their presence in Hip-Hop through each of the group’s members continued individual output. Most recently, 2026 so far has seen the release of Casual’s latest album, Black Magic, as well as Pep Love’s Acres of Diamonds, released strictly on vinyl, CD or cassette for the true collectors. In addition to that, this tour would also be used to promote an upcoming project from Del & Domino called Devil In The Details, along with hints at new albums in the works from both Souls of Mischief and the whole Hiero crew. Whether you’re looking to hear some new music from emcees who never miss, or celebrate the classics from 3rd Eye Vision and Full Circle, Hiero definitely have some heat to bring to the fans on this tour.
The Opera House was packed by the time we arrived, with a long line of fans waiting to buy that fly Hiero merch, and Toronto’s own Skratch Bastid warming things up behind the turntables. Announced as an opener just a few days before the show, Skratch Bastid of course had brought out Souls of Mischief as surprise guests at the 2024 edition of his Bastid’s BBQ music festival, and it brought back some of those vibes seeing him cut it up on the turntables. Some highlights from his set included him chopping up the 1-10 countdown on The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments,” looping KRS-One’s “MCs Act Like They Don’t Know” to play without the drums, and transitioning Big L’s “Ebonics” into Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones Pt. II” at precisely the right lyric (if you know, you know). There were several moments where Skratch Bastid had the crowd putting their hands up instead of simply watching him cut.
After a solid 30-40 minute set, Skratch Bastid made way for the stage to be prepped for Hieroglyphics, with DJ Toure and Domino both setting up behind a dual turntable set. Domino would do a quick call-and-response with the crowd to get the energy up, and pretty soon the whole Hiero crew would join him on stage!
The setlist got off to an awkward start with heavy microphone feedback and some volume levels needing adjustments, but the sound crew got that sorted out quickly and Hieroglyphics kicked it off with a bang, rocking their 2003 fan-favourite “Powers That Be.” Opio got the crowd hyped before diving into his opening verse, and he’d be followed by Tajai and Pep Love; notably Del could be seen sipping on a drink at the back of the stage as they skipped over his verse. Rather than using any one particular song to introduce all 7 of the emcees in the group, they’d cycle through different tracks that featured different members, Casual stepping up to nail his opening verse on “Dune Methane” followed by Opio. A-Plus would get to talk to the crowd and perform his opening verse from Souls of Mischief’s “Make Your Mind Up,” and Opio, Pep Love and Phesto would rock the Full Circle opener, “Fantasy Island,” getting arms waving to the beat.
Although he’s arguably the most well known as the group’s founder, Del Tha Funky Homosapien was slow to take the spotlight, letting everyone else rock first before he got on the mic. Del would soon get his moment to shine though, as Opio continued frontman duties by hyping up the crowd between songs; he’d shout out their hometown Oakland, which led into a performance of “Oakland Blackouts” with him and Del, the mellow vibes inspiring some weed clouds to appear in the crowd. Del would continue to control center stage as they next got into a Deltron 3030 track, “Virus,” which he’d get to perform solo with the rest of Hiero backing him. No one member kept the spotlight for too long, as things moved fluidly with Souls of Mischief next performing “Limitations,” with Del featuring on the hook, and the beat flipping to M.O.P.’s “Ante Up” as Casual spit his closing verse. That beat flip got the crowd extra hyped!
After a performance of the solo track “Phesto D,” the Hiero crew started to promote some of their new material, Casual going first with the song “Hard Drive Music” off of his Black Magic album. Pep Love would follow with a joint off of Acres of Diamonds, shouting out local record stores where fans could cop the vinyl, and Del would preview some music off of his upcoming Devil In The Details project with Domino, freestyling over one of the beats used for the album. It’s these songs where the crowd quieted down to tune in to the lyrics, most of these being first-time listens, and each emcee killed their verses, spitting their bars clearly for the fresh ears to pick up on. Souls of Mischief would also perform a relatively new joint with 2024’s “yes LOvELy” but it would be sprinkled in between some absolute classics, like Del’s solo performance on “At The Helm,” Opio, Phesto and Casual cranking the energy up to “Halo,” and Pep Love doing a smooth transition from a speech to singing his hook on “All Things.”
The classics would continue as Souls of Mischief rocked “Tour Stories,” followed by one of my favourites off of Hiero’s Full Circle album, “Let It Roll,” with Tajai and Pep Love nailing their back-and-forth on the hook, Tajai ripping his rapid-fire flows and Pep Love absolutely gliding over the beat. They would take a bit of a pause for Phesto to interact with the crowd, and he’d take the time to introduce each individual member of Hieroglyphics along with highlighting their importance to the crew, from Domino’s work as a producer, A-Plus as the architect behind Souls of Mischief’s sound, Tajai wearing many hats and even working the merch booth, Casual, Opio and Pep Love as unique emcee extraordinaires, and of course Del as the founder that brought them all together. Each group member got big cheers from the crowd as they were introduced, and they’d go on to preview a new, unreleased Hieroglyphics joint off of an upcoming album, with Casual, Phesto and Tajai each getting a verse.
Although the night still felt young with a lot of classics yet to be performed, you could tell the setlist was winding down as Hiero starting pulling out some of their biggest hits. The crew performed the ’03 R&B-infused track “Make Your Move,” with Pep Love doing an alternate Hip-Hop hook in place of Goapele’s sung vocals, and Souls of Mischief got the whole crowd waving their arms as they rocked the classic “93 ‘Til Infinity,” each member getting extra hyped as the crowd finished their lines for them. Finally, they’d close out with the 1998 throwback that features 6 out of the 7 emcees in the group, “You Never Knew,” the crowd of course joining in on the hook but also getting especially hyped when Opio dropped his verse, rapping the line “we unstoppable, droppin’ flows in Toronto!” After that epic performance, Opio would tell the crowd “I love Toronto so much I had to put that shit in a rap!!,” and would give some shoutouts before saying peace.
The crowd knew the night was too young to end the show there, and so we stuck around and chanted for an encore, which brought the group back on stage for a couple more songs. There were a lot of classics off of 3rd Eye Vision that they hadn’t performed, me personally wanting to see joints like “The Who,” “The Last One,” or “Mics of the Roundtable,” but none of those songs were coming. Instead, they pulled out a 2013 track off of Opio & Pep Love’s joint album as the duo First Light, Fallacy Fantasy, rocking “Lighters” with guest verses from Casual and A-Plus. The true closer for the show would be a surprise some may not have seen coming: Del Tha Funkee Homosapien performing “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz. Deltron 3030 may be touring with Gorillaz later this year (hitting Scotiabank Arena October 4th), but for those unable to spend $200+ on tickets, we got the next best thing, with Del nailing both his verses and getting the crowd to sing along to Damon Albarn’s chorus.
There were mixed feelings seeing the show end there, as a lot of Hiero classics got left off the setlist, but we still got our minds blown seeing them pull out their biggest commercial success, even if it was indirectly through Del’s solo collaboration with Gorillaz. The crowd started to make their way to the exits, Tajai already back at the merch booth racking up some more t-shirt sales, and many fans stuck around outside the venue to reflect on the moment.
Despite my nitpicking with the setlist, this was still an epic event seeing the full Heiroglyphics crew united on stage. As Hip-Hop continues to age, it’s getting more rare to see golden-era groups like Hiero still able to tour with all of their members, and this Toronto crowd definitely appreciated the moment. Just as we’ve seen with recent Souls of Mischief concerts, the whole Hieroglyphics crew represent that raw, authentic Hip-Hop in its purest form, never rapping over backing vocals and putting the emphasis on microphone skills over any antics or visual effects. You just need the DJ, the microphone and a crowd that appreciates live emceeing to make a dope Hip-Hop moment, and Hieroglyphics definitely delivered on that.
Special thank you to MGR Live, RAP SEASON and Live Nation for granting this blog media access to review this concert.
The 360 Tour continues with more east coast shows throughout the month of March, dates and tickets can be found here.
Check out this playlist of concert videos from all the times I’ve seen members of Hieroglyphics perform over the years!
Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.
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