Envy have had it easy since they put us all 'Unda Da Influence' with Dr Zeus, and there haven't been many massive releases since then. 'Desi Hip Hop' could be the renaming of the discontinued 'Death Jamm' series, showcasing Envy's producers such as Lil' Sach, DJ Stin and Subs. Envy are good at getting a variety of Indian singers on their compilations, and appearances from Surinder Shinda, Labh Janjua and Kuldeep Manak are standard, as well as newer talents coming through.

One major let down with the album is the pure blandness of the cover art and inlay. A fuzzed brick wall and big blue letters aren't eye-catching and the normal designer must've been on holiday when this was done. Even so, I'm sure Irfan's graphical skills could've been utilised…we don't charge as much as you'd think!!

Now, when you think hip-hop, you think Dr Dre, Wu Tang Clan, Eminem, LL Cool J, Nas, Biggie and 2Pac, but there's nearly no MC'ing on this album. To an extent, it's a good thing because the scene seems to be moving away from that with the demise of 'bhangarage', but this is 'Desi Hip Hop', and there should be some on there. G.I. Jatt or HMC would be out of place, but surely there are some decent Asian rappers out there who can flip the script on a hip-hop track?

As you would expect, the album does use a lot of samples, but I think this is forgivable as hip-hop evolved from using samples. Every classic rap track has an obscure source, so we can give them some leeway. However, if you compare Dre's 'Nuthin But A G Thang' to James Haywood's disco classic 'I Wanna Get Freaky' you rate Dre for using the sample so well. Not always the case on 'Desi Hip Hop', but more of that later…

The album opens up with 'Akh Teri', a production by DJ Stin. Dippa Dosanjh provides lyrical entertainment over the thick bass and tumbi melodies on this, the main track on radio rotation from the album. This tune sums up the album: it's hip-hop and its desi at the same time.

The first sample comes on track two, 'Nach Ke Dekhona', using lyrics from LL Cool J, Method Man & Redman's '4,3,2,1'. Lil' Sach has fused this together and the music and Panjabi vocals from B Mali are spot on.

The album's best track comes next. Produced by Lil' Sach, 'Yaar Da Truck' features an outstanding performance from Prem Chamkila. It may not be the most hip-hop of the album, but the desi input is brilliant. Simple tumbi riffs and a good beat make this one to go on repeat.

After such a good track, we are then let down by 'Yaar Mera'. The track samples DMX's 'What These Bitches Want' and is exactly what we're trying to get away from. Getting a hip-hop instrumental and putting a weak singer over it isn't original, isn't creative, isn't difficult but is bland, dated and boring. One of Lil' Sach's poorer efforts.

Surinder Shinda comes on the scene for track five, 'Put Jatt Da'. Bit of a simple track this one, but a decent song to keep the album going. However, surely you should be using your big name singers on the big tracks of the album.

Subs's first offering comes on 'Haar', with vocals from the great Kuldeep Manak. It's a fast moving tune, which has a good mix of desi influence and hip-hop. In truth, the album has gone a bit flat by now and the tracks that come are just for buoyancy. Unbelievable this track was previously called 'Kainthey Wala' and was released on the 'Escape' compilation. The Envy crew trying to pull a fast one on us by renaming the song, which is a joke.

We then get a remix of 'Nach Le', which was on the 'America's Most Wanted 2' album (where, incidentally it was called 'Balle Balle' and featured Cheshire Cat). It's a typically fantastic vocal performance from superstar singer Labh Janjua, and this is a highlight at the flat section of the album. It's a back to basics hip-hop track with no MC'ing, but Janjua's irresistible singing makes up for it.

'Gidde Vich' comes next, sampling De La Soul's 'All Good'. Surinder Shinda is back in effect along side DJ Stin who breaks and chops the sample to demonstrate some skill on the console. This sort of stuff is ok, it sounds good with a flute on top, much better than the one dimensional 'Yaar Mera'. This tune was previously released about 2 years ago.

Dippa Dosanjh keeps the relationship with Stin alive on track 9. Totally on the wrong album, 'Udam Singh' is a garage track and not a bad one at that but using a hip-hop sample in a garage track doesn't change its genre. Good singing but wrong time and wrong place. Envy at it again though as this tune was released on 'The Slayers' album, so another re-release.

Lil' Sach's final track is 'Put Jat Da', another sample tune with the victim this time being 'What It Is', Busta Rhymes' collaboration with the Neptunes and Kelis What It Is. Surinder Shinda sings over the track and the sample is chopped but and put through an encoder but its always the Neptunes that your thinking of. Incidentally, this track was called 'Jatt Anthem' on the 'Escape' compilation. Who do these clowns think they are kidding?

Finally, we are given 'Nach Di', sung by Sabir Koti. This one has a good mix of the two cultures and is a pretty good track. Dr Dre's vocals from 'The Watcher' are thrown in but the effect is good as Koti is always not far away. A good way to finish the album. Guess what though? It's yet another re-release, amazing the 6th in row. This track was called 'Patola' on 'The Slayers' release.

To sum it up, 'Desi Hip-Hop' is the cooking pot of eleven tunes, which attack in one direction - with amazingly over half from pervious Envy releases. To add insult to injury they have renamed 4 of them to hide this fact which is every so sad. I mean it's bad enough re-releasing the same cr** but to then try to hide this is an insult to the Asian public. If any other labels are looking at doing this we will highlight them in the same way so don't even think about it! Back to the album, the lack of rapping makes it a little bit of a trades description issue, but for the couple of quality tracks on there we'll let them off. It's got some excellent singing performances but the one-dimensional sampling lets it down. Considering the countless re-releases I'd give the album a 5 out of 10.