Search - Various Artists :: Hidden Beach Recordings Presents: Unwrapped Vol. 2 [Limited Edition w/ Bonus CD]

Excellente CD!

Romello James | Milwaukee, WI United States | 12/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It so happened that I saw this in Best Buy and didn't know what it was. A co-worker burned me a copy and I could have went crazy! This CD was the only reason I liked being at work! (ha ha) Being a musician myself I love good music (especially freestylin') and this is GREAT music! Nobody can complain about having a ambiguous blend of hip-hop and jazz. I can hum to this (and play pretend instruments) and my brother (the hip-hopper of the family) can also enjoy it. This was a great idea.



I bought all three volumes after listening to the clips on Amazon.com and I have not been disappointed!! These cd's are in my bedroom on my computer and in my car for road trips. Awesome!



RJ"

PART II COMES HARD!! ACTUALLY 4 1/4 stars

Adrian G | Dallas, Tx | 02/28/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"HIDDEN BEACH RECORDINGS- UNWRAPPED VOL II
As stated on this CD, the roots of Jazz and Hip Hop are definitely intertwined. It's crazy that it took over 15 years for someone to come up with a Jazz/Hip Hop influenced work. The first Unwrapped CD is classic, a true classic. It's a CD people 20 years from now will be listening to. So with much anticipation they have released VOL II. And the beat goes on! This is another great work. The CD starts with a remake of the hit "Always on Time"(Ja and Ashanti). The wack "Streetwize" CD from last year tried to do this song but man they just didn't do it justice. The Spanish percussion is good on here along with the rhythm guitar. "Roll Out", the Ludacris joint, got madd luv on this CD. Mike Phillips makes his first of several appearances here and works it. He uses his famous Vocoder(think Roger Troutman). The scratchin and the drum programs are verrrry nice. Tribes "Electric Relaxation" makes an appearance also. Great song to include on this work. The guitar really goes hard on this one. Coolio's "Gangsta Paradise" is one of my favorites. The violinist here Karen Briggs(you might remember her from "Showtime At The Apollo" amateur night fame) goes off. Now this song is impressive. This song is very physical and I'd love to see this performed live. I bet she carves up the violin on this one. Mystikal's "Bouncin Back" actually shows up twice, one being sort of an extended version. The second version really isn't needed but they really worked this song! They totally changed it up and made it into a "big band" production. Real nice. Will Smith's "Summetime" shows up. This is one of my favorite songs anyway, especially the Kool and the Gang original. Another good job. Erick Serman's "Music", my favorite hip hop song from 2001, is done really well here also. Mike Phillips really gets going on this one. Track 11 is a medley of some ole greats: "The Choice Is Yours" Black Sheep, "Rebirth of Slick" Diggible Planets, "Woo Hah" from Busta and "Award Tour" from Tribe. VERY NICE. Good way to end the first disc. The second disc really could have just been added to the first disc. The Jay Z "Girls Girls Girls" is once again totally reworked and I'm really feelin it. "Get Money" is the second time a Lil Kim production has made it to the "Unwrapped" laboratory. It's a very smoothed out version with some Roy Ayers type keyboard flava. Overall I liked tracks 2-8, 11 and 2&3 on the second disc. You really can't go wrong with this formula, well Hidden Beach can't go wrong shall I say. Their preparation, selection of songs and mixing/engineering is superior to anyone else out there tryin to do this. Every song is not a favorite of mine(Nelly didn't rock me and The Joe/Pun track didn't knock me over) but every song is at least good with most of them being great. This is a helluva followup to an instant classic CD. Keep bringin it on!"

For Mature Music Lovers

style4ya | New Castle, DE. United States | 06/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is what I have been looking for. You get to the point in your life where you are still young enough to like hip-hop, but old enough to appeciate a little jazz. This CD has it mixed into one, which is(simply put)GENIUS!! That is where I am right now. I have the best of both worlds. Waiting for volume 3!"