The Dino-5

• Genre: Children
• Hometown: New York

About

Hip-hop is growing up -- and having kids -- and nowhere is that clearer than with the Dino 5, a conglomeration of old school heroes making music for the under-10 set. The cast is stellar, and kind of surprising: Spoken word provocateur Ursula Rucker narrates, and featured emcees include Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Digable Planets' Ladybug Mecca and the Roots' Scratch, while Prince Paul "speaks" only through scratches. As the second project in the popular Baby Loves Music series, Baby Loves Hip-Hop introduces the genre to young listeners without any lyrical baggage -- and it does a pretty charming job of it. The premise revolves around a group of dinosaurs called the "Dino Kids" who are intimidated by the Tyrannosauros Rex at their school. They eventually make friends with T-Rex (voiced by Chali 2na) and end up forming a music group that performs at the school's talent show. Nothing too revolutionary here, but the messages -- about being open to people (or dinosaurs) you don't know and working together toward a common goal -- are good ones.

- Sarah Bardeen