Search - Various Artists :: 80's Underground Rap: Can You Feel It?

Don't Believe the Hype, lifted from the Public Enemy song of the same name, is part of Rhino's '80s Underground Rap series, but underground doesn't quite describe some of the hip-hop standards on this collection. The inclusion of the aforementioned PE track, as well as tracks from artists such as De La Soul and Biz Markie make this volume feel like more of a greatest-hits collection than a secret rediscovery. There's nothing wrong with classics, though, and there are plenty here: the Juice Crew collective is represented three times, with MC Shan's Queensbridge anthem "The Bridge" as well as Biz Markie's "Make the Music with Your Mouth Biz" and one of the all-time great microphone relay races, "The Symphony" (Marley Marl orchestrates, while Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap, among others, provide the juice). Other lesser-known tracks may still feel familiar, if only because of the scores of samples generated from them, such as Uptown's "Dope on Plastic." --Todd Levin