Grit Records wants to change the face of hip-hop. And they want it to start with their upcoming label compilation, Grit City: Volume One, which hits stores this month.

Grit Records was formed in 2002 by hip-hop aficionado KRS-One and Inebriated Rhythm founder Mahlon Williams. Designed solely to usher in a new era of sound, Grit Records concentrates more on the music and the lyrics, and less on the typical G-money, bling-bling, Pen and Pixel nightmare rap of today. And they've got the artists to prove it.

This compilation has a few recognizable names, like Soul Supreme, O.C., and even KRS-One himself. But the real treats on this trip are the up-and-comers. The new kids on the block, if you will. And no, I don't mean Donnie, Joey, or even that monkey-faced mutant, Danny.

I mean kids like Detrimental Beatheads, who offer up the smooth and soulful track "Niggas Don't Know". Or T-Max, who gives us "What Would You Do?", a track that could easily have been a b-side on an early Tribe album. Or the beat-poetic heavy "Bizzy To The Letter" from RA Degrees. And "17 Emcees" from Insight is funky and fun, bouncing and bopping along on a jazzy Seventies' beat. Good times.

All of the tracks on Grit City are in rare and fine-tuned form, and all the artists deserve credit for a job well done. If it is Grit City's goal to change the way we think about and hear hip-hop, this disc is a good start to the revolution. And the MCs on the album are damn fine soldiers.