Solesides Greatest Bumps
Nobody could have predicted the impact these scrawny young upstarts from  sleepy Davis, California, would have on the hip-hop world. Their debut 12-inch in 1993 seemed novel, a track apiece byBlackaliciousand Lyrics Born and an instrumental cut-and-paste symphony byDJ Shadow. It took the hip-hop community by storm, though, and the fledgling label was elevated to elite status whenLatyrx(Lyrics Born and Lateef) and Shadow dropped their monumental mid-90s debuts. With their rare funk samples and heady, tongue-tying lyricism, Solesides helped jump-start the vaunted independent hip-hop revolution of the past decade. This release presents Solesides' growth and maturation and offers some of their rarest out-of-print and vinyl-only gems, a blistering new posse cut ("Blue Flames"), and a host of freestyles and demos. Other highlights include Blackalicious' "Count and Estimate" and selections from theirMelodicaEP. Though the core of Solesides record today under theQuannummoniker,Greatest Bumpschronicles a spirit, innocence, and freshness that resuscitated hip-hop.--Hua Hsu