Hip-hop

The latest releases reviewed.

VARIOUS Well Deep Big Dada ****

Music fans who still put store by labels will know Big Dada as a brand to reckon with when it comes to hip-hop cuts with a difference. Headline releases from Spank Rock, Roots Manuva, Diplo, Wiley and Clouddead have kept the Ninja Tune offshoot in clover. This decade-long wrap of its activities may well persuade casual browsers to take a punt

on lesser-known names such as Infesticons, Majesticons and the alien sounds of Infinite Livez. The big hitters also deliver (there's an unreleased cut from Diplo's Florida sessions, for instance), but it's the sheer width and depth of the label's sound that really merits the applause. And the future for Big Dada? Well, that's certainly bright, with a recent signing, Canuck rapping youth Cadence Weapon, psyching himself up for world domination. www.bigdada.com JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Diplo, Now's the Time; Roots Manuva, Witness; Infesticons, Night Night Theme