Hip-Hoppers' greatest hits

Like any top-selling genre, hip-hop is widely represented on compilation albums. But only a few rappers have greatest-hits retrospectives of their own:

Jamming lead guitar into the mix was just one of Run-D.M.C.’s innovations; the devastating trio gave rap the momentum to reach the rock audience. Together Forever: Run-D.M.C. Greatest Hits 1983-1991 carefully chronicles the verbal gymnasts’ brilliant career, including ”Walk This Way,” their pigeonhole-busting 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith. A

Hip-hop’s best-selling female group doesn’t get a lot of hard-core respect, and the inconsistency of A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits: The Hits Remixed explains why. Tough rhymes like ”I’ll Take Your Man” sizzle with conviction, softer-hitting dance tracks don’t. C+

As a svelte synopsis of the tubby trio’s first three records, The Best Part of the Fat Boys is enormous fun, a smorgasbord of comical rhymes. B+

Despite the grossly misleading title, Kool Moe Dee: The Greatest Hits is a valuable document of rap’s formative years. It’s full of entertaining party rhymes and now-rare singles by Moe Dee’s group the Treacherous Three that predate his prosperous solo career. B-

Lightweight content dressed up with fancy production, Whodini: Greatest Hits showcases this Brooklyn group’s easygoing commercial style. B-