From the Neptunes to DJ Muggs, RZA to Kanye West, Eric B to DJ Polo, Ninth Wonder to El-P, the best hip-hop producers' beats are recognizable within the first couple of bars, no matter who is spitting over the track. L.A.'s Kut Masta Kurt, best known for his work with Kool Keith (sadly remembered now more as a late 90s multi-aliased precursor to MF Doom than the creative force he once was…) and Motion Man, falls within that revered canon. His cut and paste beats, all stuttering samples artfully placed within the stop-start drum hits and bass that are his bread and butter, are a prime example of "signature sound."

As the evidence clearly displays on his latest release, a collection of Kurt's remixes from the past few years called Redneck Games, Kurt's services have been in demand by some of the top underground and mainstream hip-hop artists for some time now. Besides the occasional rare miss, the shit is on.

Roaring to a start with a statement of mainstream acceptance, Kurt conquers the Beastie Boys' "Body Movin'" with suspenseful strings and typical-KMK phrasing, a very different take from the old school flavor of the original.

Mos Def and Diverse's "Wylin' Out" is given full raga treatment as sitars and tablas go hip-hop under a furious rhyme-storm. Kurt seems to have some sort of affection for crap-rockers Linkin Park, which for true music fans, is a bit hard to understand, but he manages to remix their angsty, howl-filled "In the End" to a better purpose, helped along by Motion Man's raps. Skipping this track, however, only brings one closer to gems like Planet Asia's spectacular "Golden Age," an unadulterated KMK-infused track of string hits, bass drops, and samples assembled like Legos that propel Asia's unrivaled flow.

The collection continues on with the likes of Blackalicious, PMD, and Rasco, before culminating in two of the best tracks: Motion Man's "Show Up For Practice," which employs an Ultramagnetic MC's sample, and Kool Keith's "I Don't Believe You," a marked improvement upon the Moog-funk of the original.

Apparently, there was some legal trouble with the Olympic Committee over the original title of this compilation, but the Funky Redneck seems to have put that to rest with the current title. Redneck Games is apparently a showcase of what Kurt considers to be his best and favorite work, and the tongue-in-cheek interview with a mystified European interviewer at the end of the disc is a prime example of just how much fun he seems to have as he makes his beats. Whether he's rocking the fake beard or the Mexican wrestler mask, Kut Masta Kurt is fearlessly lacing tracks for MCs worldwide.