Hip Hop Classics

Hip Hop Classics

Released: February 26, 2007

Look at the CD market today and you’ll find dozens of compilations proclaiming to be the ‘Best of R&B’ or the ‘Hottest Hip Hop Joints of All Time’. More often than not however, these compilations fall far from the listener’s expectations and fail to deliver tracks good enough to justify the title.

The newest contender to hit the market is ‘Hip Hop Classics’, a three CD compilation being touted as ‘The Definitive Collection’.

A quick glance at the tracklisting for ‘Hip Hop Classics’ and you’ll recognise almost every song, with undisputed rap gods 2Pac, Dr Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, Snoop Dogg, Eric B and Rakim making appearances throughout the multiple discs.

Thumping Westside beats like Pac’s ‘California Love’ and Snoop’s ‘Who Am I (What’s My Name?)’ earn rightly deserved spots, while The Beastie Boys’ ‘Fight For Your Right’ and Naughty By Nature’s ‘OPP’ are also welcomed. But, as you step back into the golden era of rap listening to the sounds of Run DMC (‘Walk This Way’), the Sugarhill Gang (‘Rapper’s Delight’), and the Luniz (‘I Got 5 On It’), you quickly realise that on this CD, there are no strict rules as to what constitutes a hip hop classic. For amongst gems like Coolio’s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ and Roots Manuva’s ‘Witness (1 Hope)’, you are faced with several questionable inclusions, such as D12’s comical ‘My Band’, Mobb Deep’s mediocre ‘Have A Party’ featuring 50 Cent, Will Smith’s 2006 offering ‘Switch’, and the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘My Humps’, a pop tribute to a woman’s curves – songs which would be much better suited to a party compilation than a hip hop classics CD.

However, if you skip the lows and crank up the modern classics of Ja Rule’s ‘Livin’ It Up’, Ludacris’ ‘What’s Your Fantasy’ and N.O.R.E.’s ‘Nothin’, you can enjoy the best these CDs have to offer.

So is ‘Hip Hop Classics’ a compilation for rap lovers? Yes, but not if you’re looking for a collection of true hip hop greats. Far from the ‘Definitive Collection’, but a collection nonetheless.