Hip Hop Flavas

Hip Hop Flavas: Gangsta Rap Meets Old Skool Hip Hop is a bizarre compilation that bounces back and forth between a random selection of classic old school rap singles and more modern rap fare from the '90s. The title is a bit misleading since the Jungle Brothers and a couple of the other more recent groups included can only be loosely termed "gangsta," but the selections are solid throughout -- Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's "The Message," Whodini's "Magic's Wand," the Wee Papa Girl Rappers' "Wee Rap," and the Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" highlight old school, while Warren G's "Regulate," 2Pac's "California Love," Raekwon's "Love Is the Message," GZA/Genius' "Cold World," and Snoop Dogg's "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" pick up chronologically. Nothing from the late '80s and the '90s' immediate beginnings can be found, which leaves something of a gap within rap music's evolution. The other problem is that most of these tracks, both old and new, have been placed on several other various-artist discs. ~ Andy Kellman|