Ego Trip’s The Big Playback

In the late 1990s heyday of hip-hop media (The Source, Vibe, XXL, etc.), the highly respected indie rap zine Ego Trip built a cottage industry that included books, VH1 specials, and this 2000 compilation album. The Big Playback gave lesser known, certifiably classic rap songs their due: “Beat Bop,” for example, by Rammellzee and K-Rob (produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat), and “Marley Marl Scratch” by MC Shan, featuring one of producer Marley Marl’s most pulse-pounding original beats.