The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness (often abbreviated as The Psycho-Social CD) is the debut album of underground hip hop group Jedi Mind Tricks, consisting of rapper Vinnie Paz (then known as Ikon the Verbal Hologram) and producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind. The original version of the album was released in 1997, limited to 1,000 copies on vinyl by Superegular Records, and was re-released on CD in 2003 on Babygrande Records with six bonus tracks, featuring songs recorded by the group before their debut release. It has been a common misconception that the vinyl version was re-issued in 2001, possibly because the back of the vinyl release says "2001 Superegular." The album’s often esoteric lyrics focus on conspiracy theories, astronomy, religion, and violence, themes that JMT would expand on in later albums. The album was inspired by a lot of "crazy books" mentioned by Vinnie Paz in an interview, and is named after one of those books, a 1,900-page tome entitled "Matrix III - The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electromagnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness,” by Valdamar Valerian.
Dean Carlson of AllMusic described the album as consisting of "an angular, symphonic sweatshop of mid-tempo beats" that acted as a palette for the group's “scatter-shot rhymes and paranoid rhythms,” concluding that, "[I]t might take some time for Jedi Mind Tricks' sound to fully mature, but their metaphysical peculiarity is a promising new glow in the dark hip-hop underground."[1] B. Ridge from RapReviews praised the idiosyncratic "sci-fi lyrics dealing with spaceships, Atlantis, and ancient prophecies", "heavy use of religious references and imagery", and Stoupe's production, which created a suitable soundscape to complement the lyrics. However, he criticized what he described as the occasional flatness of the beats, odd use of pop culture references, and cornball tendencies in the lyrics that may turn people away from listening to the album.[2]
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