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VARIOUS Big Apple Rappin' Soul Jazz ****

An interesting compare-and-contrast exercise: take this set of old-school New York hip-hop from 1979 to 1982 and play it alongside any compilation of 21st-century hip-hop cuts. It doesn't take long to work out who's having more fun. While today's rappers use their turn at the mic to vocalise grudges, exchange verbal swipes and do a spot of crude bragging, the acts featured on Soul Jazz's look at hip-hop's early days sound much more innocent. After all, they couldn't forsee a future spent scatting for their supper, so their raps over disco and r'n'b grooves are all about tongue-twisters (Spoonie Gee rocking the line "like a lime to a lemon and a lemon to a lime") and lyrical dexterity. Rapping delights are plentiful here, with General Echo's Rapping Dub Style and Masterdon Committee's electro test-run Funkbox Party being two particularly superfly highlights. www.souljazzrecords.co.uk

Jim Carroll