This menagerie of thrilling, mostly overlooked jams begins in rap’s naive era, when “I’m on the cover of TV Guide” passed as a big-time boast. New York-based Profile Recordsstruck gold with Run-DMC, whose success funded a bonanzaof odd experiments, like Dana Dane’s charmingly tuneless singingon “Nightmares” and Rammelzee Vs. K-Rob’s eccentric masterpiece “Beat Bop.” Profile slowed down in the 1990s, when rap turned lesscarefree. But even Disc Two hits hard, especially “Broken Language” by Smoothe Da Hustler and Trigger, who trade off barrages packed with violent images and a love of phonetics.
Related• Photos: Random Notes
