Four of
Kelis' five singles that hit Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart are included on
The Hits, as well as three guest spots (one of which,
Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money," charted), leaving plenty of room for tracks that weren't exactly hits. Title semantics aside, the disc amounts to a satisfactory, but not optimal, selection of highlights from
Kelis' three U.S.-released albums: 1999's
Kaleidoscope, 2003's
Tasty, and 2006's
Kelis Was Here. (2001's
Wanderland, not released in the States, is technically represented through "Young, Fresh N' New," but the song also appeared on
Tasty.) Plenty of great material is left off the hourlong sequence, from
Tasty's "Rolling Through the Hood" and "Glow" to
Kelis Was Here's "Blindfold Me" and "Trilogy," and incorporating "Popular Thug" and/or "Little Suzie" from the
Wanderland era would have been a good touch. Even so, casual listeners who have wondered whether or not
Kelis has had depth beyond a hot single off each album -- "Caught Out There," "Milkshake," "Bossy" -- will get the answer here, and that answer is yes. ~ Andy Kellman