There was a period, at some point in the early part of the 1990s, when everyone thought they knew how to do jazz rap / alt rap, after seeing and / or listening De La Soul and other dull East Coast acts that they were improvised rappers.
Some, like De La Soul themselves, have built an entire career in the industry, others haven't had the same luck. In particular, these failures occurred off the East Coast, where shoddy imitations went to waste and practically all turned out to be flops, failing to attract audiences and being soon forgotten. Few acts have managed to become very successful and there have been few middle ground between these two situations.
The only studio album of Los Angeles duo The Nonce is one of many forgotten and comes in the wake of the alt rap trend that several copycats have introduced to the scene, including Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowships, to which, in some way, the two boys are affiliated. The duo, consisting of Lance "Sach" Caldwell and Byron "Yusef Afloat" Jackson, they do average rap bravado on a set of self-produced bland jazz rhythms. Aceyalone, Meen Green, Butta B and Figures of Speech are the guests of the album. The record is a good background listening, there's nothing memorable in the ambient touches that the group offers. Butta B's tight rap and Figures of Speech's dreamy hook represent the best moments of the tape. Released by American Recordings and Wild West Records, for alt rap fans it's a pleasant surprise among the neglected West Coast records of the mid-nineties. 6.5/10.
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