REVIEW: Various Artists, Hip Hop Coast 2 Coast (Priority)
- Lang Whitaker
Staying on top of the music world is a nearly impossible mission. Moving almost as fast as the needle on Marv Albert's lie detector, the rap and hip hop industry break new music and new stars daily. Therefore, putting together an album of the best in rap and hip hop is no easy feat due to the time constraints involved. On Hip Hop Coast 2 Coast New York's Hot 97 and Los Angeles' Power 106 team up to provide a soundtrack for a "west to east musical road trip of popular rap music."
There are several of rap's up and coming stars featured on this compilation. "I'll Be" pairs Foxy Brown and her ill na na, Jay Z, together like a ribald Ricky Ricardo and Lucille Ball, airing out a lover's quarrel. Master P and Steady Mobb'n are 'bout it, 'bout it, rhyming about how they're trapped in a vicious Catch 22 that won't allow them to escape the ghetto gangsta lifestyle. NYC's Lost Boyz get a much deserved mainstream push thanks to the inclusion of their track "Get Up". Also, the rising E-40 teams with Too Short and K-Ci Hailey on the anthem "Rapper's Ball". Interestingly, even though E-40 is every bit as overweight as Biggie Smalls ever was, he flows without sounding like he's got 6 ham sandwiches stuffed in his jowls.
Shuffled between the newer songs are some of hip hop's finest from the last few years. "C.R.E.A.M" brings back the track that launched the Wu Tang Clan onto the world stage. Jermaine Dupri and Da Brat come funk, funk, funkin' along with the lazy "Funkdafied", and LL Cool J's "Loungin' (Who Do Ya Luv)" bring together a Carribean flavored groove with one of the more memorable hooks of the last year.
Straying from the rap that dominates this album is one of hip hop's all time greatest songs, Blackstreet's "No Diggity". Producer Teddy Riley masterfully mixes a thumping bass, a piano lick deeper than the Titanic, a convicted rap by Queen Pen, a few tossed off lines by Dr. Dre, a synclavier vocal straight out of Roger Troutman territory, and four part harmony for hip hop bliss. I dare you to only listen to it once. This is the track that when you're alone, like in the car by yourself, you play over and over and sing along at the top of your lungs. Incidentally, the piano in "No Diggity" sounds remarkably similar, production wise if not musically, to the piano sound perfected by The RZA on Wu Tang Clan's Enter The 36 Chambers album.
That this CD was pieced together by two radio heavyweights is no surprise. However, what is puzzling is that with the combined foresight and industry pull of these two behemoths, they couldn't scrounge up any tracks that were released in the past 6 months or so. They say these songs were pulled from their playlists, but Tribe Called Quest's "Award Tour"? That came out in '93. Granted, Mack 10 and AllFrumTha I do collaborate on a brand new song (the percolating "Make You Dance"), and there is a seldom heard remix (Tribe DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad remixes Ice Cube's "What Can I Do"). But somebody forgot to tell Power 106 and Hot 97 about several of the more influential artists of the past few years: Missy Elliot, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and even (shudder) Puffy Combs.
Profanity flies fast and furious, so those of you with virgin ears be warned. Priority Records is pressing two versions of this album- a clean and an explicit version. I was sent a copy of the explicit album, and my guess would be that a clean copy would be so full of beeps that it could double as a soundtrack from "The Jerry Springer Show".
There is also a delicious irony nestled beneath all of this. While "rap activists" like Mrs. C. DeLores Tucker rant and rail against explicit hip hop albums, a portion of the proceeds from this compilation will go to two youth charities in New York and L.A. Even if Mrs. Tucker can't get rich off of her constant badgering of artists like the late Tupac Shakur (who once rhymed her name, Seinfeld-style, with a female body part), it's good to see some artists willing to share the wealth with the less fortunate.
