Afrika Bambaataa

Hip-hop pioneer and leader of the Zulu Nation, Afrika Bambaataa is back to edutain the masses with a smart party album. Keeping on the "Planet Rock” tip, most of the tracks have that old school funky-breaks feel with lyrics inserted in all the right places from MCs King Kamonzi, MC Chatterbox, Mustafa Akbar, TC Islam, and Aghi Spirits. The shocker is the appearance of one of the originators of awesome electro weirdness, Gary Numan. There's even a breaks remix of the classic "Soul Makossa," the acid house-inflected "Pick Up On This,” some bootylicious "Shake 'N' Pop Roll," and of course, some Zulu chants. Admittedly, it borders on cornball at times and some of the production isn't exactly moving at the speed of the light. Still, it's Afrika Bambaataa and friends politicking over funky party beats, doing it just like you thought they would. What can you expect from an album that has a track called "Electro Salsa" on it?