Synopsis:

Real simple. This is a collection of twelve videos compiled by Palm Pictures identifying their choices of the best Hip Hop videos. Included are videos by Queen Latifah, NWA, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Eric B & Rakim, Wu Tang, Public Enemy, Arrested Development, Onyx, House of Pain, Eazy E & Whodini.

Audio:

The audio for the disc is 2 channel stereo presented in something called PCM Stereo. Supposedly, the sound is presented in CD quality however, it is uncompressed. Having just finished recording an album, I am painfully aware of what uncompressed music sounds like & its not too pretty let me tell you. When something isn't compressed, the end result is a mismashed uneven playback with some sounds being louder than others are. That's pretty much the tone of the disc. The bass is peaked out & doesn't sound the best at louder volumes. Overall, the audio was something of a let down given that there are some pretty decent videos on this disc.

Video:

The video like the audio varies in quality from video to video. Generally, the quality is fair to poor. The cleanest videos in way of clarity are Ice Cube's, Public Enemy, 2Pac & Queen Latifah. The balances of the videos suffer from muddy imagery, poor transfer quality and an overall bad reproduction. If you can imagine a 2nd to 3rd generation video tape image you'd be pretty close to the quality or lack thereof on the disc.

Extras:

The extras consist of a Palm Pictures set of previews for films the company either has in production or is preparing to release. Other than that there are no extras. The menu is nicely animated but that's about it.

Overall:

I enjoyed checking out these videos and for the most part they would fit in a greatest hits category were I to compile such a listing however, it evades me how one hit wonders like Onyx, House of Pain & Arrested Development ever made the cut. Not only re their tracks annoying, they are some of the worst rendered videos on the disc. Not too mention that they really don't even belong in a category that contains the musical greatness of Public Enemy, Ice Cube, 2Pac & Queen Latifah! My next issue with the disc is where was Heavy-D, Kool Mo Dee, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-1 just to name a few! If they are going to go to the lengths of identifying a collection as being the "Greatest" they ought to at least get some of the greatest on the disc! Rental Property Only.