| Rappers' crews are the bane of hip hop. No matter how you rateSnoop Dogg or Busta Rhymes, you're guaranteed to rank the DoggPound and the Flipmode Squad lower. St. Lunatics'Free City(Universal) is the exception. Although the odds are against anybodyoutselling Nelly's enormous 2000 debut,Country Grammar, hisbuddies, who contributed a fine and funny dope song to that album,improve on its excellent formula. They even top the "Old McDonald"-quotingnovelty smashE.I. withMidwest Swing, where the rhythmtrack is dominated by sampled farm animals. Nelly proves hisloyalty to his boys by juicing more than half the tracks, but by nomeans do the standouts stop there. This is hip hop as pure popfunk, grabbing ears with a new groove provided primarily by thealbum's true star, chief producer Jason Epperson. Every time youthink Epperson's exhausted his store of sounds to make beats from,he comes up with something new.
Two proven singer-songwriters whose names folkie diehards won'trecognize: Chuck Cleaver and Eef Barzelay. Reason: both understandthe limits of lyrics-firstism so well that they front bands--theAss Ponys and Clem Snide, respectively. The latest showcase forCleaver's twisted Midwest realism isLohio (Checkered Past),with a spiky country-rock,sometimes old-timey and sometimes souped up, complementing titleslikeLast Night It Snowed andBaby in a Jar. On his thirdalbum,The Ghost of Fashion (SpinArt),Barzelay is more the metropolitan cynic, setting off songs likeJunky Jews andJoan Jett of Arc with arrangements that featurea standup bass and a keyboard player who doubles on cello andviolin. Both artists are eccentric, sardonic, and much smarter thanthe average folkie.Playboy, July 2001
 | June 2001 | Aug. 2001 |  |
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