Bet Best Of Planet Groove Columbia MD

Bet Best Of Planet Groove

Various Artists

Fully Loaded / Virgin Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/03/1999

I admit that I'm not the biggest listener to urban contemporarymusic. It's not that I don't like it, or that I'll turn it off themoment it comes on the radio in my car; it's just that I've neverreally developed a big taste for it. I can appreciate hearingartists like Boyz II Men or Luther Vandross, and I enjoy some songsin this vein. But if there's any genre that I could afford to betaken to school for, urban contemporary is it.

Lo and behold, in the mail comes BET Best Of Planet Groove, a compilation of some of today'sbiggest and brightest names in the genre. There is literallysomething for everyone on this disc, and while I can't say I likedevery performance, there was enough on this disc to make me moreinterested in the urban contemporary genre.

This 15-song disc collects many of the names that even a casuallistener would recognize (Janet - anyone know why she won't use herlast name of Jackson?, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey), as well as someothers that might not be as well-known (Chico, Jon B.) if you don'tfollow the scene. A lot of the tracks intermix raps with the smoothdeliveries, which is not always the most welcome marriage ofstyles, depending on how it's delivered.

I would like to wonder out loud why the selection from ErykahBadu, "Tyrone," had several words edited out - I mean, I can figureout which words they were quickly. But I would have rather heardthe song in its entirety, cursing and all, to truly appreciate itthe way that Badu obviously wanted it performed. I guess I'll haveto go pick up a copy of Live to hear the original.