Tommy Boy's Greatest Beats, Vol. 2

Amazon.com Tommy Boy Records, one of the leaders in the compilations trend, has programmed this series of "greatest hits" to be part historical retrospective and part jam tape. On volume 2 the music segues confidently from the Soul Assassin throb of House of Pain to the proto-techno grooves of 808 State, with stops in between at Force MD's soul classicism, K7's pop dancehall, and Club Nouveau's lite R&B. The highlights on this volume are supplied by Naughty by Nature's "Feel Me Flow" and "Uptown Anthem," Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance" (which still sounds funky), and De La Soul's "Ring Ring Ring." The volume also makes a vital point about the importance of up-tempo dance music in hip-hop by pairing Queen Latifah's "Come into My House" with Coolio's "1-2-3-4 (Sumpin' New)." --Martin Johnson