School is in session and the auditory curriculum is Hip Hop 101. Tommy Boy’s Black Label compilation has enough material to fill an entire semester of study. Executive produced by De La Soul, but featuring the talents of everyone from DJ Spinna to the Alchemist, this album pleases the hungry for beats and lyrics hip-hop junkie.

Da Matrix calls out on plagiarists in the industry over a simple but effective drum and loop beat produced by the Maestro on "Beat Biter". Check the shot at Puff and Bad Boy: "Everybody jackin’ beats tryin to rep hip hop, I know you said it won’t, but that shit has got to stop."

Track five features an almost teacher and apprentice partnership with Talib Kweli and Tony Touch on "What They May Seem." Although the hook is kind of weak, the extremely unorthodox and experimental Pos produced track consists of a Snapple bottle melody underneath a drum and cymbal loop with some moonshine bottles being blown for good measure, creating a tremendous audio soundscape. Mr. Tony Tocas spits some worthy rhymes with little bilingual rhymalisms to fill in the gaps, holding his own with the prophetical Kweli.

The hottest and most inventive track is supplied by The Bad Seed. This hip-hop morality tale centers on a possessed pair of jeans. The left pocket wants Seed to choose the quick cash lifestyle of the drug game, while the right pocket thinks he should stick to the hard work/pay your dues world of hip-hop:

"My left pocket laughs, ‘Yo nigga you don’t know the half, if you were really bout it bout, you’d be pushing the Nav getting cash,’ ‘Or you could be riding the beats, banging out joints in the lab,’ ‘There you go again, that goodie-goodie shit is for crabs. Plus it ain’t rational. I can’t believe I live in the same god-damn pair of pants as you." Told over a ridiculous xylophone loop, this track had me rolling with Seed’s witty lines and amazing storytelling ability.

Other smoking tracks from veterans like Natural Elements and Masta Ace, plus up&comer’s like Royce the 5’9", make this compilation necessary listening material for every hip-hop head sick of the commercial school of rap music. Cop it sooner than later.

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courtesy of hiphop-elements.com