The Beat Junkies

The World Famous Beat Junkies, Vol. 2 is another double-disc mix album, this time spotlighting the skills of Beat Junkie DJ Rhettmatic instead of Babu. Naturally, there are appearances from other key members as well, and a couple of archival pieces of interest: Rhettmatic's award-winning routine at the 1996 DMC competition, and the four-man routine featuring Rhettmatic, J-Rocc, Melo-D, and Babu that won the 1997 ITF team championship. Disc one is mostly a collection of underground favorites, with work by Dilated Peoples, Mos Def, Jurassic 5, the Lootpack, Defari, Slum Village, and Rasco, among others. Disc two features a few more freestyles and exclusive tracks, all enlivened by excellent scratching and mixing. Die-hard turntable aficionados will find all of the Beat Junkies' compilations necessary, but thanks to strong track selection, this one might just be the pick of the litter. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide