Released nearly a decade after the two-disc
Death Row's
Greatest Hits, the single-disc
Very Best of Death Row is both somewhat necessary and a little bizarre. It's could be meant to right some wrongs of the earlier compilation (wisely including the original mix of
Dr. Dre's
"Let Me Ride" and
Warren G's
"Regulate"), or it's a roundabout way to welcome
Petey Pablo to the fold (his
"Off tha Chain," featuring
Kurupt, closes out the disc as a bonus track). It's definitely not a complementary release, since it shares a number of the tracks with its predecessor. No matter what, this compilation shortchanges both the label and the consumer; there's no way that these 14 tracks (at just over an hour), as a whole, can make for the best representation of one of the most notorious
rap labels. Tireless picks:
"Let Me Ride," "Regulate," Snoop Dogg's
"Who Am I," Lady of Rage's
"Afro Puffs," 2Pac's
"Ambitionz az a Ridah." ~ Andy Kellman
