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*U.S. compilation consisting of American, British,
Japanese, Australian and European acts.
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Language: English, French (Le Français), Japanese (日本語)
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: TBCD 1076
© 1993 Tommy Boy
in the late '70s and early '80s, the majority of rappers were from New York. Hip-hop was born in Harlem and the South Bronx, and it wasn't long before Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island got in on the action. But in the late '80s, it became obvious that you didn't have to be from New York to be a well known MC -- by 1988, hip-hoppers from different regions of the U.S. were soaring to the top of the Billboard charts. And hip-hop not only went national, it went international. Released in 1993, this generally excellent compilation spotlights rappers from several European countries as well as Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and Canada. The MCs who rap in English include Australia's Mama's Funkstikools on "Funkstikool's Theory," England's London Posse on "How's Life in London," Canada's MVP on "Fresh Has Jus' B-Gun," South Africa's Prophets of the City on "Understand Where I'm Coming From," and Ireland's Scaryéire on the sociopolitical "Lost for Words." Meanwhile, selections by Sweden's ADL ("Daddy") and Denmark's Bootfunk ("Huffin' and Puffin'") are perfect examples of Scandinavian MCs rapping in fluent English. But there is no law stating that hip-hop always has to be in English -- Planet Rap also finds MCs successfully rhyming in French (MC Solaar on "Qui Séme le Vent Récolte le Tempo"), German (Die Fantastischen Vier on "Die Da!?!"), Italian (Articolo 31 on "Legge del Taglione"), and even Japanese (Microphone Pager on "Kaisei Kaishi"). On "Salvador Astral," the Brazilian group MD MC's raps in Portuguese and fuses hip-hop with the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of Bahia. None of these artists are well-known in the U.S., but then, a European, Asian, or Latin American hip-hopper can sell a lot of CDs in his/her own country without any help from U.S. audiences. Again, hip-hop is an international phenomenon -- and Planet Rap often demonstrates that you don't have be from the U.S. to excel in the genre.
* Due to past abuse, comments for the Hip-Hop section have been disabled.
tags: various artists, planet rap, a sample of the world, 1993, flac,
