The Lemonade Incident by soce, the elemental wizard

He's welcome at hip-hop clubs all over New York City -- straight and gay."

Gay.Com

"[soce] is probably the only Ivy League-educated (Yale), violin-playing rapper trying to break down barriers in a music industry niche too often scarred by homophobia."

Gay City News

Go to greathiphop.com to play Internet Treasure Quest!!

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C4 - C3 - C2 - A4 - B1

"I highly recommend buying The Lemonade Incident, even if you are a homophobic Eminem fan. And check out the insert photographs that explain the title - they're oddly entertaining."

Whoopsy! Magazine

"Tim Stüttgen's Top 15 Tracks:

1. Lady Sovereign - Chi-Ching

2. CocoRosie ft Antony - Beautiful Boyz

3. Kanye West - Diamonds from Sierra Leone

4. Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

5. Roll Deep Crew - Avenue

6. SOCE - I'M SO GAY

7. Missy Elliott ft. Ciara - Lose Control

8. Lethal B - Fire

9. SOCE - SUCKING D*** (Unplugged)

10. Kano ft. Mike Skinner - Nite Nite

11. Ciara ft. Missy Elliott - 1,2 Step

12. Art Brut - Top of the Pops (live)

13. Paul McCartney - Helter Skelter (live)

14. J-Fresh & Jeremy - Schwule Mädchen (live)

15. The Mitchell Brothers - Alone With The TV"

Spex Magazine (Germany)

"Soce

The Lemonade Incident

www.GreatHipHop.com

Out east-coast hip-hop homo and lyricist extraordinaire Soce delivers another solid set of great groovers for the homo-hop set with witty takes on everything from getting laid to not getting laid and everything in between. Unapologetic and with great music to back it all he weaves amusing and clever diatribes worthy of the clubs. My picks: “I Am (So Gay),” “SD (Sucking D***),” “Stagnancy,” “Work/Play (Bar Mitzvah remix),” “Bad Hair Day” featuring Sandra Grace, “Robotics” and four fantastic untitled bonus tracks two of which could be great videos."

San Francisco Bay Times

"Soce is one of the most original, creative, witty, adorable, smartest, funniest, warmest, most humble, fearless artists I have EVER met.

I think a perfect way to determine whether a person has a soul, or not, is in watching him or her respond to Soce's music. If you don't "get it" or if you don't like it, then you've seriously lost your sense of life, love, and laughter. You are more like a dead body faking your way through life. His music is affirming, reviving, invigorating, playful, and surprisingly thoughtful.

This is music that is being created and presented against a great many more odds than most can probably comprehend, and still Soce refuses to pander to the lowest common-denominator just to win you over. His music trusts in your intelligence to read between the lines, to enjoy the euphemisms, and to laugh with him at the painful absurdities of life that tend to be familiar to all of us in one way or another.

Some people may enjoy Soce's music as if it is all about the humor, the cartoon-ish playfulness, and the addictive sing-alongs, but there is far more to it than that. I love that you can be mindless and goofy with his songs, but there is depth, feeling, and true stories behind the fun, which makes Soce a spectrum of soul, instead of a specialist in selling.

Soce is more than a rapper, musician, brilliant artist; he is a superhero in his own right.

He has saved my day on more than one occassion with even just one of his great songs."

Troy aka CocteauBoy

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!"

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