Urban Beat Reggae: Dancehall Massive Culture (Heartbeat, 2004)

The first -- and frankly the only -- thing that comes to mind when listening to this album is "Why?"  What’s the point of this hodgepodge of material from Heartbeat’s back catalog?  The first Urban Beat Reggae collection focused on the emerging hip-hop reggae sound that was growing in popularity at the time (1994?).  This one, though, features both traditional dancehall (as indicated in the title) and reggae hybrid sounds, mixed with hip-hop and R&B.  I suppose it's all "urban," but some dancehall purists might be upset at being duped by the title into believing that this is a strict dancehall compilation.  Much more perturbing, however, is the selection of songs.  Every single song here is readily available on another Heartbeat album (although granted, there are a couple of remixes included), the newest of which are still a full 3 years old!  So, if this isn't a release of new material, maybe it contains rare tracks that are out of print or that were never released on CD...?  It contains Dawn Penn's "You Don’t Love Me (No No No)"; need I say more?  Is there any reggae song that has been included on more compilations in the past decade?  No, the selection process for Dancehall Massive Culture did not consist of a Trojan-like scouring of the label's vaults for long-lost tunes. All are taken from well-known albums, and all but two originate between 1997 and 2001 ("No No No" and the seemingly random choice of General Two's "Gimme Back Mi Money" -- available on Heartbeat Reggae Now! -- are from the early '90s.).  I can't even rationalize that this is a hits collection – I mean, "Gimme Back Mi Money"???  My advice is that if you want the best tracks from Dancehall Massive Culture, you should buy Beres Hammond's Getting Stronger (which contains "Come Again Tonight" and "Try If You Want"), Richie Spice's Universal (which has "My Love" and "Galang Yah Gal"), and Everton Blender's Visionary (for "Kanta” and “Slackness").  This way, not only will you have the best of this set (the other best song, "No No No," you can find with ease on a dozen collections better than this one), but you'll also have three excellent albums with plenty of other good stuff to listen to as well (plus, these tracks aren't even necessarily the best ones on their respective albums).  The rest of Dancehall Massive Culture consists of sloppy, poppy R&B/hip-hop tracks like the two Spanner Banner songs ("Ladies Man" being a take on Kool & The Gang's "Ladies Night," already covered to death by Foxy Brown et al.) and the dated remixes, or generic dancehall like Michael Rose's "Never Give It Up," Baby Wayne's "Low Mi Gwaan," and Anthony B's "Give Me Some More" (the latter two from the Heartbeat compilation Dancehall Liberation).  About as useless a dancehall compilation as you can get.