How High (Original Soundtrack)

Rap's zaniest duo can get deep when they so choose, but 9 times out of 10 they opt to get high instead, a fact well documented by the soundtrack to their first feature-length film. Like a conversation between two herbally elevated running buddies, the material here is largely not new. Even "Fine Line," a track featuring the relatively unknown Canadian MC Saukrates, was lifted from the rapper's self-released 1999 debut CD, Volume I, Underground Tapes. But How High does a good job of collecting B-sides (RZA's remix of Meth's "All I Need") and radio hits that were part of records that may never have made it into your permanent collection (Ludacris's "What's Your Fantasy" and DMX's "Party Up"). Redman's "How to Roll a Blunt" proves just how good a producer Pete Rock is, even when he's not trying very hard, and "Bring Da Pain" will remind you that Meth was considered a high-grade MC before the world familiarized themselves with his verbal tics. --Rebecca Levine