Pop

Underground hip-hop heads have long sung the praises of Jean Grae, but the rapper's full potential has always been hampered by subpar production. Four years after her last record, she returns with a fierce showing helmed by the 9th Wonder, who's worked with Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige. The beats are better, if a bit familiar, but the real draw is Grae's taut, bitter flow. Like many rappers, she spends too much time cutting down perceived rivals, but when she shines the light on herself, it's with an uncommon honesty and depth that rewards repeated listens. Jeanius is out on Talib Kweli's Blacksmith label, and Grae proves Kweli's equal at articulating deep disillusionment. If rumors of her retirement are true, she's left a rock-solid legacy.

- Doug Wallen

Three 6 Mafia
Last 2 Walk
(Columbia ***)

In the twisted world of Three 6 Mafia, the philosophy of not fixing what isn't broke hasn't been some slow death-sentence of marginalization. In fact, by getting weirder and more outrageous with each release, the Memphis rap group have sold more records, had more hits, won an Oscar, recorded a song with Justin Timberlake, and gotten their own reality show. Go figure.

Last 2 Walk is the group's ninth studio album and their first since becoming a household name. It's a stark, refreshing reminder of the group's trademark sounds: dark piano chords and synth-heavy beats, pushed further by ridiculous chants that act as choruses, many of which aren't printable in this newspaper. (A couple - "Playstation" and "First 48" - feel like product placements, albeit very clever ones.)

A slew of guests rounds out what is a wildly fun party. Some are expected (Project Pat, Akon), others are not (Lyfe Jennings, Good Charlotte). Surprisingly, they all fit nicely. Go figure.

- Michael Pollock

Girl Talk
Feed The Animals
(Illegal Art ***1/2)

2006's inventive Night Ripper established former biomedical engineer Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, as a mad scientist DJ and mash-up alchemist, a master of blending hip-hop choruses with hooks and riffs from a wide swath of 1990s alternative rock and mainstream pop. Although one could listen to it as name-that-tune pop quiz, its seamless quick-cut artistry never seemed academic, ironic or contrived; instead, it aimed for maximum pleasure.

Surprisingly, Feed The Animals is even giddier. Gillis takes the history of Top 40 pop as his purview, from "96 Tears" and "Jessie's Girl" to "In a Big Country" and "Whoomp! (There It Is)" to "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" and "Lollipop." Made available as a Radiohead-like name-your-price download via illegalart.net almost immediately after it was completed (and then quickly dissected sample-by-sample on Wikipedia), Feed The Animals is a dizzy, exhausting and exuberant tour de force.

- Steve Klinge

RZA as Bobby Digital
Digi Snaks
(Koch ***1/2)

RZA makes soundtracks for Quentin Tarentino and Jim Jarmusch, creates on-line games (WuChess), and produces pal-collaborators in the long-suffering Wu Tang Clan. But in between all that, RZA has a solo career that he runs in the thug-superhero mode of "Bobby Digital."

With the Wu's most recent record 8 Diagrams sounding only so-so, it's time for the masked, swashbuckling pimp/rapper to save the day. Yet rather than rescue it through hip-hop, Digi's power comes from the thrilling blaxploitative swirl that RZA gave Kill Bill.

RZA's fresh cinematic ambience allows him open space in which to rhyme curtly. "Creep" and "You Can't Stop Me Now" are spookily soulful disco-funk thumpers whose mysteries you can't quite figure out at first. Then you notice the Billie Holiday-like voice of Thea van Seijen, with her creaking verses on looming cuts like "Good Night," and consider her contributions to the darkly atmospheric Massive Attack. Aha! RZA's take on that British trip-hop outfit's electro-dub vibe gives everything from the regal jazz of "Drama" to the tensely teasing "Try Ya Ya Ya" a scary, lovelier atmosphere than anything RZA has recorded previously.

I can't wait for the sequel.

- A.D. Amorosi

Vanessa Hudgens
Identified
(Hollywood **1/2)