Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
Who knew that 'Rapper's Delight' would kick-start the most thorough alteration of pop culture since rock & roll itself? Marking 25 years of commercial hip-hop recording, this four-CD set gathers dozens of key tracks for connoisseurs of every age. In fascinating fashion, it brings together early strains of party rap, gangsta styles, and socially conscious lyrics from a time when they happily coexisted, while showing a convincing grasp of later developments as far afield as Timbaland & Magoo and 50 Cent. (A lack of permissions no doubt accounts for the absence of Eminem, Missy, the Beasties, and Slick Rick.) Every fan, of course, will have his or her own list of must-hear tracks, but this set will earn its place in many an SUV's disc changer. --Rickey Wright









Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

---

Related Items:
     see more

Related Items:

• Def Jam Music Group Inc.: 10th Year Anniversary
• Old School Rap, Vol. 1-4
• The Funk Box
• Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally)
• Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits of All Time
• see more

---

Disc 1:

1. Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
2. Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
3. Treacherous Three - The Body Rock
4. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock
5. Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five Featuring Melle Mel & Duke Bootee - The Message
6. Run D.M.C. - Sucker M.C.'S (Krush-Groove 1)
7. UTFO - Roxanne Roxanne
8. Roxanne Shante - Roxanne's Revenge
9. Salt-N-Pepa - Push It
10. Too $hort - Freaky Tales
11. Kool Moe Dee - Wild Wild West

Disc 2:

1. Eric B. & Rakim - Follow The Leader
2. Boogie Down Productions - My Philosophy
3. Ice-T - I'm Your Pusher
4. M.C. Hammer - Turn This Mutha Out
5. Public Enemy - Fight The Power
6. The 2 Live Crew - Me So Horny
7. Biz Markie - Just A Friend
8. De La Soul (featuring Jungle Brothers, Q-Tip, Phife, Queen Latifah & Monie Love) - Buddy
9. 3rd Bass - The Gas Face
10. A Tribe Called Quest - I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
11. Main Source - Looking At The Front Door
12. Chubb Rock- Treat 'Em Right

Disc 3:

1. Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.
2. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime
3. DJ Quik - Tonite
4. Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)
5. Arrested Development - Tennessee
6. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
7. Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
8. The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By
9. Onyx - Slam
10. Queen latifah - U.N.I.T.Y.
11. Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
12. Warren G. & Nate Dogg - Regulate
13. Craig Mack - Flava In Ya Ear
14. Method Man Featuring Mary J. Blige - I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By

Disc 4:

1. Redman & Method Man - How High (Remix)
2. Junior M.A.F.I.A (Featuring Little Caesar, Lil Kim & The Notorious B.I.G.) - Gettin' Money
3. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads
4. Sacrface Featuring 2Pac & Johnny P. - Smile
5. Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See
6. Timbaland & Magoo - Luv 2 Luv U
7. Gang Starr - You Know My Steez
8. DMX (Featuring Sheek Of The Lox) - Get At Me Dog
9. Noreaga - Superthug
10. The Roots Featuring Jill Scott - You Got Me
11. Common - The Light
12. 2Pac - Until The End Of Time
13. 50 Cent Featuring Nate Dogg - 21 Questions
14. Dr. Dre Featuring Snoop Dogg - The Next Episode

Rating: - Old School Hip-Hop
I absolutely LOOOOOVVVVVEEEE this collection! It takes me back to when hip-hop was REALLY hip-hop. We use to stand around and watch boys break dance on the cardboard boxes listening to these jams on tapes!!!!! And every Sunday you could bet money that the DJ would play "Planet Rock" at the skating rink.

Sit back and share the sounds with some friends because you can't listen to this collection without having the desire to say to some friends,"You remember when........"

---

Rating: - cd purchase
i bought this for my dad, and he loved it...i was also pleased with this purchase

---

Rating: - You Get the Picture
The Hip Hop Box is a nicely packaged four disc collection of hip hop music that spans the dawn of popular/ commercial hip hop ("Rapper's Delight" 1979) to the days of the collection's release ("21 Questions" 2003). You have to observe the set as a collection of songs because it fails to be a completely comprehensive guide to hip hop. This is understandable given all that has been done within the genre. However, the omission of artists such as LL Cool J and Eminem (and others) may make some question the set's worth. The Box does a nice job of gathering many hits and a better job of introducing the listener to the genre. Highlights include "The Breaks", "Just a Friend", "Passing Me By" and "Luv 2 Luv U (remix)".

If money is an issue, Hip Hop Gold is a cheaper, two disc set made by the same company (Rhino Records) that has many of the same songs. The Box is uncensored and Gold is, but that does not affect many of the songs.

---

Rating: - no ll cool j, beastie boys, or jay-z, but 50 cent made it here?
this collection is obviously very incomplete, "but" is very refreshing compared to what is out today(4-cd's can/will never do the job so take it for what it's worth. i tell myself that everyday). so with that said, what is 50 cent doing in this set. at the time this set came out(5/2004) 50 had'nt contributed enough to "real-hip-hop" to deserve a cut on here(and still has'nt). look at him now and compare him to the rest of the greats/legends in this set. also each disc had extra time/space left for extra cuts(a disc can hold 80 minutes). each disc had "at least" 10 min left(so at least 2-3 more cuts per disc). could of been 60 tracks instead of 51. besides all that this is very essential, and so much better than this sorry fake hip-hop being put out now(mike jones, paul wall, 50 cent just to name a few). for real. this along with def jam's 10th anniversary 4-cd boxed set, and tommy boy's greatest beats 1981-1996 4-cd boxed set, as a reviewer said awhile back, is pretty much all you need to remember what "real hip-hop" was and is all about. and to all you rap/hip-hop haters, don't blame hip-hop or even rap, blame those who make it look bad(mike jones, paul wall, 50 cent, and others). rap/hip-hop is very positive(when used correctly). some people just don't understand it(there fault), but don't blame hip-hop(as a whole). it's history. haters... learn about it, study it, listen to it(espeacially the 80's/early-mid 90's)and you'll see hip-hop was and still is positive. please, just don't judge if you don't know. LONG LIVE GOOD REAL HIP HOP!!!!!!!!!

---

Rating: - The Missing Artists/Songs.....
I was going to skip writing a review of this important historical collection. Why? Because others have, in my opinion, done it justice already and are probably bigger rap fans than I am. But I couldn't resist remarking on the bitching relating to the missing artists as if those not included were done so as a snub or a purposeful "grading down" of their work.

Look, just about every historical collection can be criticized similarly. Back in the 60's, some important collections of British Rock were released and NONE had the Beatles or Stones among the artists surveyed. Were we to assume that they felt the Beatles and Stones weren't good enough? No. Most of us with no business acumen still figured out that it must have had something to do with licensing and permission. So, a very good collection of Brit-rock might, if it was lucky, include the Beatles with Tony Sheridan doing "Ain't She Sweet".

Let's be real. Those artists that were most bitched about as being absent were not included because permission could not be obtained or the royalty demands for such permission were considered impractical. I don't KNOW this in the sense of having proof, but I'd surely assume it to be true. What other possible reason would there be for having such a stellar collection not including some of the most important artists in rap's history? Lack of knowledge of the subject? Poor taste in rap? Not hardly.

That's one of the reasons why collectors like myself always have respected Rhino's ability to put together collections. They seem to have a knack for getting the necessary permissions to include most important artists covering the era/style they're exploring. But even Rhino must live with gaps.

ed.