Designed to turn teenagers on while driving their parents nutso, The Slim Shady LP (Aftermath/Interscope), by Dr. Dre's white protegee Eminem, recalls nothing less than the Beastie Boys' Licensed To Ill in its hilarity and button-pushing offensiveness. Although it couldn't warn more explicitly against trying its scenarios at home, these do include several revenge murders and one OD. Eminem rhymes with the imagination of a potty-mouth Ogden Nash (how about "eyeballs"-"Lysol"-"my fault"?). Here's hoping follow-ups to the irresistible "My Name Is" will give censors ulcers all year.

Prince Paul Presents A Prince Among Thieves (Tommy Boy), by former De La Soul music man Prince Paul, is just as audacious and totally different: a 77-minute rap opera so well-plotted its option has been picked up by Chris Rock, who plays a crackhead. Other cameos go to old-timers Chubb Rock as a drug don, Kool Keith as a weapons dealer, and Big Daddy Kane as a pimp. And yes, the beats are--what was that word?--def.

Things Fall Apart (MCA), the fourth album by Philly progressives the Roots, is the first to escape the feckless swing of the second-rate jazz they love too much. Here they respect hip hop's more forthright tradition even more, framing the intelligence they make so much of with a clarity that finally does it some justice.

Playboy, Mar. 1999

Feb. 1999

Apr. 1999