Subnoize Souljaz

Rap covers of rap songs are rare, coming off as hip-hop karaoke if hardly altered, and rap fans don't take well to change either. So it's no surprise these Suburban Noize Souljaz offer up a collection of fairly faithful covers. Sure, there's a bit of tweaking of beats, lyrics (mostly names) and flows, but mostly the song remains the same, even with some eerily similar voices, like Judge D's impersonation of LL Cool J's braggart yell on "Momma Said Knock You Out" or Daddy X's Slick Rick inflections on "Children's Story" and wild Flavor Flav side-kicking on Public Enemy's "Bring Tha Noize." Covers of older songs, like the Dirtball's rendition of Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend" or D-Loc's "remix" of Special Ed's "I Got It Made," could have used some updating, especially the simple beats. And it would have been nice to have had some participation from Subnoize Souljaz like X-Clan, La Coka Nostra or newest signees Swollen Members. Still, it's kind of hard to lose with a compilation of classic rap covers, making Blast From Tha Past an easy introduction to the label.