Various Artists - Basketball's Greatest Hoop Hits (CD)

All Music Guide

Looking to loosen Tommy Boy's grip on the "jock jams" market, Rhino assembled Basketball's Greatest Hoop Hits, a collection of 18 rock and hip-hop songs that are routinely played in arenas across the U.S. Unlike Tommy Boy's collections, Basketball's Greatest Hoop Hits blends rock with rap, and the results are pretty entertaining, especially when they stick to the familiar -- "Basketball," "Pump Up the Jam," "Bang the Drum All Day," "We Are Family," "Rock and Roll, Pt. 2." However, Rhino again shoots itself in the foot with its fondness for novelties, adding comedic tracks like Cheech Chong's "Basketball Jones," which winds up hurting the flow of the disc. Even with its flaws, Basketball's Greatest Hoop Hits remains a solid collection of familiar items from the court which makes it of interest to many armchair jocks.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide