:: Various Artists - Hip-Hop: The Chillout Collection

Various Artists

When an album cover boasts a collection of hip hop tracks which one can chillout to, it is what one would expect, but “Hip Hop The Chillout Collection” fails to live entirely up to its name. From urban singers to pop and soul, this album proves itself to be more a mash of songs than an assortment of hip hop anthems. Dics 1 delivers a mix of music genres. Urban artists such as Ja Rule and Nelly make an appearance, with songs such as “Caught Up” and “N dey say” alongside pop divas such as Janet Jackson who features in a track by Chingy. Classics such as “Into You” by Fabolous feat. Tamia, and ‘Cry Me a River’ by Justin Timberlake while doing somewhat to make up for the lack of actual hip hop material, do nothing more than highlight the discrepancy in what is labeled as hip hop and what actually is. Disc 2 and hip hop revives somewhat. Tracks such as “P.I.M.P” by 50 Cent destroy the mood set by the likes of Ice Cube and Snoop Dog. This disc was an attempt at creating the chillout sensation as promised by the cover of the album, but failed to make up for the disorderly collection of tracks on disc 1. Overall this album does not deliver the promised assortment of hip hop one would expect.