VARIOUS ARTISTS

King Of The Beats Volume 2 (Mushroom)

According to a recent Mixmag, breakdancing and old skool hip-hop are this year’s most fashionable habits, so this album – the soundtrack to the 1998 Breakdancing Championships – is well and truly part of the hype. But it’s wrong to suggest breakdancing is now a massive craze. It never was and never will be because – unlike rollerskating, for example – it’s shit-hard to master. As for hip-hop, it’s nearly two decades old and has yet to go out of fashion. Cool compilations like this will always win over new fans: London Posse, Public Enemy, Mantronix and Bassbin Twins are just a few of the class acts makingKOTB2 as essential as its predecessor. (MK)