CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Ego Trip's The Big Playback

2000 compilation album; various artists

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ27818075
Source-derived summary

Ego Trip's The Big Playback is a 2000 compilation album released by the American record label Rawkus Records on April 11, 2000. The album was released with the collaboration of the writers for Ego Trip magazine and made as a companion piece for Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. The album consists of rare and obscure tracks by hip hop artists and groups made between 1983 and 1989.

Composition and release

The album was released with the collaboration of the writers for Ego Trip magazine and made as a companion piece for Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. The album consists of rare and obscure tracks from hip hop artists and groups originally released between 1983 and 1989 with many tracks that had previously not been released on compact disc. Many of the tracks have been described historically important with many tracks being sampled by more famous hip hop artists on tracks like "Holy War (Live)" by Divine Force (used by DJ Premier on a Jeru the Damaja song) and "Get Retarded" by MC EZ & Troup (used by Dr. Dre on "Zoom" from the Bulworth soundtrack).

Ego Trip's The Big Playback was released by Rawkus Records on April 11, 2000. The album was released on vinyl, cassette and compact disc.

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club noted that the album "offers ample evidence that there's more to '80s hip-hop than you'll find on most old-school compilations.

Editorial summary

“Ego Trip's The Big Playback” enters the record as 2000 compilation album; various artists. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Trip's, Playback and compilation can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2000, 1983, 1989—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2000-04-11. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Trip's, Playback and compilation.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Ego Trip's The Big Playback” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Trip's, Playback and compilation provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q27818075. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000, 1983 and 1989.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ego Trip's The Big Playback”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ego Trip's The Big Playback primary sources, Ego Trip's The Big Playback archive and Trip's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ego Trip's The Big Playback”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ego Trip's The Big Playback” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.