Destiny's Child

There used to be a bajillion Destiny's Children. Then there were three. Now, there's just Beyonce.

In the shadow of quickly imploding R&B groups En Vogue and TLC, Destiny's Child charted mightily but never quite gained the respect or notoriety of their predecessors. It's partly due to the group's post-Spice Girls, bubblegum pop nature.

Sure, pop music masterpieces like "Bug A Boo," "Independent Women" and "Say My Name" off of their greatest hits album #1s espouse women empowerment and feminist ideals. Sorta.

For example, "Bills, Bills, Bills" is the narrative of a woman standing up for herself and kicking to the curb her scrub boyfriend while she sings a chorus of "Pay my bills, maybe then we can chill." Huh, what happened to women entering the workplace?

As the album demonstrates, however, these brazen betties soon transformed into what they protested against: submissive sugar mamas. Their latest singles document their need to find a soldier, who would make them lose their breath- and opening up a catering service.

The sonic quality of these songs surprise less as the group attempts to embrace lukewarmly the slinky grooves of Southern hip-hop yet still retain their trademark brand of club-bumpin' R&B.

And while the LP details the group's devolution, it misses a couple of their best records. Early single "Get On The Bus," where they send their cheating lover packing on the city bus, and Christmas single "8 Days of Christmas" are mysteriously absent while three incredibly bad songs are included.

Oh, the tragedy.