by Various Stones Throw artistsThis sequel
to the original Chrome Children 
compilation is a little like the bastard younger brother. It's not as impressive, even though it tries hard. The fact that this was only released digitally should be a slight indicator of quality, but at the same time, it does have some nice things going for it.On the positive side, the project opens with a Madlib Beat Konducta track, and there is another one half-way through. These are always welcome. There's a nice Koushik-produced remix of a Percee P song, although I wonder just how many different versions of that same verse exist - it's the same as the one on the new Whitefield Brothers album. Surprisingly the only Baron Zen track I've ever liked is on here.
The best stuff on here comes from the Now-Again side of the business, as we get Egon's edit of Clifford Nynen's 'Keep Running Away', a piece that has been sampled somewhere recently, although I can't remember where. I also like the Chocolate Star track, and the Gary Wilson one. Neither of these are artists I'm familiar with, and I feel like I should rectify that. Towards the end of the project is a Jazzistics track, 'Marcus, Martin and Malcolm', supposedly produced by Yesterday's New Quintet, which we all know means Madlib. I'm liking his jazz stuff now much more than I did when this came out three years ago.
On the more negative side, I found that this project contains a number of decent rappers who come off sounding a little dull here. MED and Oh No both come off wrong, as does Roc C, except he gets saved by a wonderful Oh No beat. I feel the same way about the track that pairs Guilty Simpson with Four Tet. I think the beat would have stood up better if left alone. There is nothing wrong with the Aloe Blacc track, except it's not the type of thing I expect from him. There's a decent enough J. Rocc piece as well, but he's not an artist I ever find myself getting excited about.
Finally, the less said about James Pants and Arabian Prince, the better.
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