**1/2

OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL

(Jive Electro)

A cross between the Judgement Night soundtrack and Jason Nevins's myriad Run-D.M.C. retoolings, Old School vs. New School is a publicity stunt (for Jive's new dance-music imprint, Jive Electro) masquerading as a tribute to rap's fertile adolescence. The high concept: 13 electronicats and DJs give tracks from Jive's vaults a Y2K upgrade -- and end up inadvertently evoking the brief heyday of hip-house, when every rap 12-inch had to include a floor-filling 4/4 remix. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'll take the Jungle Brothers' "I'll House You" over many of the bastard-child reworkings on this disc. Big-beat-ify Whodini and Kool Moe Dee and corn becomes cheese.

The good stuff includes Bassbin Twins' Boogie Down megamix "A Crate of BDP," a stew of needle-thrashing scratches and live shout-outs drenched in community-center reverb that's obviously the work of obsessed fans. Aphrodite makes A Tribe Called Quest's smoothed-out "1nce Again" sound like a lava flow hitting a toy factory; the Stone Roses' "Fools Gold" gets doubly freaked, by Grooverider (snaky!) and the always-enthralling Rabbit in the Moon (spacy!). Improbable highlight: the pleasing sleaze of R. Kelly's "Sex Me (Hollis Monroe's Stripped Down Stomp Mix)" and Hybrid's take on DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "Summertime," which sounds like the theme from "Fresh Björk of Bel-Air." Overall, old school wins in a blowout -- as it should be.

-- Alex Pappademas