Before hip-hop could replace disco in the clubs, it had to play by dance music’s rules — Whodini became early rap stars by making that compromise sound like a coup. At their best, MCs Jalil and Ecstasy and DJ Grandmaster Dee let Kraftwerk-indebted electro loops spiral endlessly, alternating effusive, simple rhymes with even simpler chants and copious instrumental breaks. “Haunted House of Rock” and “Freaks Come Out At Night” are fantastically bizarre early-’80s party jams, the former featuring some resolutely un-gangsta Dracula shout-outs. Funky Beat is virtually identical to 1990’s Greatest Hits; added are 1991’s likeably goofy New Jack love triangle “Judy” and 1996’s forgettable R&B update “Keep Running Back.” At their best, Whodini were unabashed dorks with nasty beats, and the cover of Greatest Hits best captures this: What rappers today would be photographed wearing leather Zorro hats and holding hands?

Download: “Haunted House of Rock,” “Freaks Come Out At Night,” “Friends”