What Are You Listening To? Hip-Hop is a multi-artist compilation released on Chordant Distribution Group in 2002, marketed and distributed in the EU by Kingsway Communications.
You know when a record label are running things when a 12-track compilation is made up of 10 of their songs. Apart from T-Bone’s & TobyMac’s offerings, representing Flicker Records and Gotee respectively, this compilation is dominated by Uprok Records (a subsidiary of BEC/Tooth & Nail) and as a budget price intro to Christian hip-hop is well worth the money. The majority of the tracks on here are fantastic. The original sounding Spanish groove of Tunnel Rat member, Raphi’s song «Then & Now», makes for a special concoction as he spins tales of his life, career and home state of California. The BK & Associates (Blake Knight from Ill Harmonics) production showcase album yields an extremely enjoyable cut in the form of «Rhythm To The Rhyme» which features members of the ever-fun loving LA Symphony. The rather short intro cut, «A Long Road», from the Tunnel Rats’ superb album ‘Tunnel Vision’ is capable of sending shivers up the spine as soon as the strings hit, while other cuts from groups such as Mars Ill, New Breed, KJ-52, and Ill Harmonics leave you in no doubt that quality is NO LONGER a problem with Christian hip-hop. The album throws a curveball in the form of BEC signing Furthermore’s song «Deliriously Cold», which technically would probably be termed breakbeat/electronica with someone rapping over the top, but this is an extremely brilliant track with the vocalist spitting seemingly random rhymes about life and his attitudes over a bass-driven breakbeat. Disappointments come in the form of Freddie Bruno’s track «Ms Bonita», which is a good song, but could have been replaced by a number of stronger cuts from his album. The T-Bone song came off quite limp with the Eric Dawkins chorus being quite cliché and unoriginal. The TobyMac offering stands out in terms of the brilliant female chorus at the start and the well crafted beat, but his rhyme skills are rather outshone by all the other artists on this compilation which can only say that he needs to step up his game. [Stephen Adams, Cross Rhythms, November 2002]
CD tracklist:
01. T-Bone – Throw Ya Handz Up – 3:31 (from The Last Street Preacha)
02. tobyMac – Irene – 4:12 (from Momentum)
03. KJ-52 – Rise Up – 3:25 (from Collaborations)
04. ILL Harmonics – Take Two – 3:53 (from Take Two)
05. Tunnel Rats – A Long Road – 1:54 (from Tunnel Vision)
06. Freddie Bruno – Miss Bonita – 3:29 (from The Ballpoint Composer)
07. Mars ILL – Compound Fractures – 3:24 (from Raw Material)
08. New Breed – Stand – 3:42 (from Stop the Music)
09. Furthermore – Deliriously Cold – 2:53 (from She and I)
10. Raphi – Then & Now – 4:18 (from Cali Quake)
11. Ray Buchanan – Hotland – 3:09 (from Ray Buchanan)
12. BK & Associates – Rhythm to the Rhyme – 2:41 (from BK & Associates)