ministry of sound anthems: hip-hop

Cross*culture Reviews

 Album:       Ministry Of Sound Anthems: Hip-Hop (2011, Ministry Of Sound)

Track Listing:     1. STEP INTO A WORLD (RAPTURE'S DELIGHT) - KRS-One  

2. CAN I KICK IT? - A Tribe Called Quest

3. JOINTS & JAM - The Black Eyed Peas

4. HIP HOP HOORAY - Naughty By Nature

5. WHAT'S GOLDEN - Jurassic 5

6. TALKIN' ALL THAT JAZZ - Stetasonic

7. HE GOT GAME - Public Enemy feat Stephen Stills

8. MS. JACKSON - OutKast

9. GRAVEL PIT - Wu-Tang Clan

10. RAPPERS DELIGHT - The Sugarhill Gang

11. RING RING RING (HEY HEY) - De La Soul

12. MO MONEY MO PROBLEMS - The Notorius B.I.G. feat Mase & Puff Daddy

13. SUMMERTIME - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

14. GIMME SOME MORE - Busta Rhymes

15. GET UR FREAK ON - Missy Elliott

16. FORGOT ABOUT DRE - Dr. Dre feat Eminem

17. HOW WE DO - The Game feat 50 Cent

18. DAY 'N' NITE (NIGHTMARE) - Kid Cudi

DISC 2

1. IN DA CLUB - 50 Cent

2. YOU CAN DO IT - Ice Cube feat Mack 10 and Ms. Toi

3. JUMP AROUND - House Of Pain

4. PARTY UP - DMX

5. X - Xzibit

6. INSANE IN THE BRAIN - Cypress Hill

7. HOT IN HERE - Nelly

8. SHAKE YA ASS - Mystikal

9. DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT - Snoop Dogg feat Pharrell Williams

10. BUST A MOVE - Young MC

11. PUSH IT - Salt-N-Pepa

12. HYPNOTIZE - The Notorious B.I.G.

13. REGULATE - Warren G feat Nate Dogg

14. MJB Da MVP - Mary J Blige feat 50 Cent

15. LOLLIPOP - Lil Wayne feat Static Major

16. NO DIGGITY - Blackstreet feat Dr. Dre

17. KICK, PUSH - Lupe Fiasco

18. PEOPLE EVERDAY - Arrested Development

19. LOVESICK (UPBEAT MIX) - Gang Starr

DISC 3

1. THE MESSAGE - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

2. PAID IN FULL - Eric B & Rakim

3. EXPRESS YOURSELF - N.W.A.

4. YOU PLAYED YOURSELF - Ice-T

5. GOT YOUR MONEY - Ol' Dirty Bastard feat Kelis

6. SO WAT CHA SAYIN' - EPMD

7. RUNNIN' - The Pharcyde

8. PLAYER'S ANTHEM - Junior M.A.F.I.A.

9. IT AIN'T HARD TO TELL - Nas

10. HIP HOP - Dead Prez

11. WOO HAH!! GOT YOU ALL IN CHECK - Busta Rhymes feat Rampage The Last Boy Scout

12. DON'T STOP...PLANET ROCK - Afrika Bambaataa & The SOul Sonic Force

13. IT'S LIKE THAT - Run DMC

14. WILD THING - Tone Loc

15. PURPLE PILLS - D-12

16. CAUGHT OUT THERE - Kelis

17. I GOT 5 ON IT - Luniz feat Michael Marshall

Dave’s Review:

Over the years Ministry Of Sound Anthologies have become a Bible to dance music fans in the same way that any Triple J Hottest 100 is a must have for those who love alternative music. Now Ministry Of Sound have branched out and released Anthems: Hip-Hop to celebrate thirty years of hip-hop… a three disc set no less. But seriously perhaps they should stick to dance music because while Ministry Of Sound claim they have captured the 54 greatest hip-hop tracks of all time, they have certainly missed the mark.

Clearly what Ministry Of Sound meant to say was they have captured 54 hip-hop songs that were cheap enough to purchase because these albums are loaded with ordinary tracks (that could hardly be considered hits… and certainly don’t deserve to have the word ‘Greatest’ placed anywhere near them) while there are some huge omissions, such as 2Pac (surely with the number of times we hear “California Love” each year that should have be remembered) and Lil’ Kim (a huge mover and shaker in the hip-hop world). Other strange choices include “Forgot About Dre” as one of Eminem’s best songs (how about including one of his hits???) and “Joints & Jam” by The Black Eyed Peas… doesn’t take a genius to work out that it certainly wasn’t one of their greatest hits.

Disc One is the biggest offender with only OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson” and Missy Elliott’s “Get UR Freak On” saving it from being a complete waste of time. Disc Two certainly saves the day with 50 Cent, Ice Cube, DMX, Cypress Hill, Nelly, Slat-N-Pepa and The Notorious B.I.G. making for one hell of a party mix. It’s also nice to see “Kick, Push” by Lupe Fiasco getting a little bit of love… he has to be one of the most underrated hip-hop artists going around. Disc Three is again another right off with only Run-DMC, Tone Loc and Kelis there to save the day.

 It seems Ministry Of Sound set itself a task beyond it’s reach when it tried to fill 3 discs with hits, there are certainly more than 3 discs worth of hip-hop hits out there, Ministry Of Sound just chose the wrong ones (or couldn’t get the rights to the ones they wanted… we have to give the benefit of the doubt there). Perhaps they would have been better just trying to make a single disc of hits and doing the genre proud.

RATING:- **(out of 5)

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