Various Artists: Bad Boy Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Money, Power & Respect is the title of The Lox's debut album, one of many offerings from the Puff Daddy-led Bad Boy label. While Sean "Puffy" Combs no doubt has his share of the first two, he has yet to match his money and power with an equal level of respect, outside of his work with the late Notorious B.I.G. A decent greatest-hits collection—a fat-free album lumping together so many good songs that Combs' relevance would become unquestionable—would be just the thing to correct that. Say what you will about Combs; he has an ear for hooks, even if they're not always his own, and there are other reasons for the records' Hammer-like hip-hop crossover success. Listen to "It's All About The Benjamins" with fresh ears, if that's possible, and it sounds downright eerie, and if Mase were left to coast entirely on his mush-mouthed charm, he probably wouldn't have gotten half as far. The skimpy Bad Boy Greatest Hits Vol. 1, however, probably won't be enough to win over skeptics. Trim the "mad rapper" skit segments, all four of them, and you're left with a mere 10 songs from the Bad Boy catalog, a number of which will be of primary interest only to those already nostalgic for 1997's Summer Of Puff. "Benjamins" is here, along with "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" and Mase's "Feel So Good." One contribution each from Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, and Faith Evans lend a little historical perspective, but Bad Boy probably should have waited until its moment was up, say in about another six months, and released a comprehensive collection similar to that of one-time rival Death Row. If the one new track is any indication, however, Combs is making plans for the long haul; Jerome's "Too Old For Me," in which the 11-year-old Puff prodigy insists that he's old enough for love, promises that things will only get stranger.