3 out of 5

Label: [adult swim]

Produced by: Various

I don’t think I have the ear to effectively give this disc a rundown; though I listen to an okay amount of hip-hop, it’s admittedly mostly from a backpack crowd, and the African-sourced groups and artists collected by adult swim on the compilation lean much more toward a mainstream sound.  To that extent, I can only say that the overwhelmingly majority of this set is very, very average: the cadences, the production tricks (the beats and vocal effects) are all reminiscent of any given hit you’d hear playing on-air.  The artists don’t sound wholly derivative, per se, but they’re going for a particularly accessible variation of hip-hop and achieving it.

There are a couple of standouts, who have that extra oomph to their delivery or whose beats are a step beyond the norm: Prokid’s got amazing flow, though it sounds like he’s one of the few “all-stars” on this comp; Drencko, Matz, etc., and Gumshev were other nice highlights, but a lot of these acts don’t seem to have albums, only singles or online presences, so it’s unfortunate to not be able to check out what else they have to offer.

If radio-ready beats are your bag, and you like a touch of kwaito in the mix, this is a free set, though due to the general unavailability of a lot of the acts here, see it more as a way to pad your playlist than to expand your artist roster.