AMG Review of Heat [Sony Sampler]

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Epic Records celebrated the coming of summer 1999 by releasing this 16-track sampler of songs by R&B and hip-hop artists on the rosters of its various imprints, ten of them from forthcoming albums. Big sellers like Ginuwine and Cappadonna were present, but the bulk of the tracks were introducing new artists, of whom Fundisha (with her Lauryn Hill-styled expression of mother love, "Smile") seemed the most promising. An oddity of the set was the inclusion of "clean" versions of tracks that, in their original versions, were so obscenity-laden that the edits rendered them incomprehensible and almost unlistenable. It was hard to believe that anyone at the label had actually played through as peculiar a concoction as the cleaned-up version of Cam'ron's "D.I.P." before sending this disc out, so severe were the sonic disruptions.