Backstory: Since its founding in 1997, Big Dada Records—a rap and hip-hop offshoot of pioneering electronica label Ninja Tune—has helped launch the careers of a who’s who of underground heroes: Saul Williams, Roots Manuva, cLOUDDEAD, Diplo, Busdriver, Spank Rock. This 10-year-anniversary compilation offers up crucial cuts from some of the label’s best-known releases.
Why you should care: Although it’s less well-known than other backpacker favorites like Def Jux and Rawkus, Big Dada’s impact on leftfield hip-hop is just as significant. The label championed UK hip-hop long before “grime” entered Americans’ vocabulary, and the mind-boggling production work of acts like cLOUDDEAD and TTC has provided a blueprint for every forward-thinking producer from Timbaland to Danger Mouse.
Verdict: “Well Deep” packs more creativity into 31 tracks than mainstream hip-hop has mustered in the past 31 months. The best tracks here actually beat the mainstream at its own games; there are crazy club bangers (TTC’s “Dans Le Club,” Spank Rock’s fantastically filthy “Sweet Talk”) and silver-tongued boast tracks (Wiley’s “50/50,” TY’s “Look for Me”) all over “Well Deep.” In some alternate universe, this would be a greatest-hits collection; as it stands, it’s a welcome reminder that reports of hip-hop’s death are greatly exaggerated.
X-Factor: Oddly, there’s nothing included here from Big Dada’s first two years of existence, when it released acclaimed singles by Saul Williams and Mike Ladd, among others. That means the comp's only real rarity is an unreleased Diplo track from 2004, the drum-n-bassy “Now’s the Time.”
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