"We Came From Beyond" is a good compilation of hip hop acts that (except for the Beastie Boys) are not mainstream successes. (I'll warn you now: the Beastie Boy song is just a remix of "Pass the Mic" from "Check Your Head"). Freestyle Fellowship, Dilated Peoples, Blackalicious and Jurassic 5 are some of the established luminaries in the underground scene and they each contribute a good song to the CD ... "Unified Rebelution" by J5 in particular is a great slippery track -- the best on the album in my opinion. The CD is also great for helping to expose new acts (or ones I'm not familiar with, at least). Eyedea, Pep Love, Mighty Casey, Count Bass D, Atmosphere, AWOL-One, Fat-Hed, and Motion Man all have tracks with a distinctive sound ... it's great to be exposed to so much new talent. The highlights among the new artists are Pep Love's forbidding "Relief" and Mighty Casey's loopy "Liquorland", but they're all worth hearing. The album finishes with a 17-minute tribute to Rob One, and it's a credit to the production that the track uses the same loops throughout and doesn't get annoying or boring. I bought the CD because I like Blackalicious and Jurassic 5 but I'm happy with the whole disc. If you're at all interested in new sounds in underground hip hop, then get it!
