Stakes Is High

The record occasionally swerves away from repetitive beats and drugs: On "Rowdy Riders" Saafir, King Saan, and Andre Nickatina (formerly Dre Dog) rap over spaghetti-western licks; Rasta's "Ghetto Life" plays like a dancehall ditty; and Shock G and Humpty Hump turn "Jacuzzi" into a murky sexcapade. But too much of Million Dollar Dream is monotonous -- the beats, the melodies, the lyrical situations as a whole. Driven by the need to show and prove, or to speak in volumes, Diamond and Peace allow the excesses of the genre to influence the effectiveness of the compilation -- at 36 tracks it's way too long. Then again, on one level too much is what gangsta rap is all about. On Million not even the biggest names try to elevate rap music from one creative space to another. Digital Underground's Shock G, Hobo Junction's Saafir, Whoridas' Nickatina, Dru Down, and 11/5 came to play, not to change the sound of hip hop.

What Beats & Lyrics lacks in size (it has 12 tracks, less than half of Million Dollar Dream), it makes up in ambition. Supervised by Kool DJ EQ, another rising star in West Coast production circles, Beats wants to be the compilation of record for the West Coast progressive. Featuring a cross-section of talent from the left coast (Aceyalone, Abstract Rude, Xzibit, and Pharcyde from Southern California; the Hieroglyphics and Living Legends crews from the Bay Area), EQ's project attempts to tie together California's two creative centers. It's also a chance for EQ to showcase his own skills as a serious hip-hop arranger and DJ.

Like EQ, the Oakland rap crew Hieroglyphics -- whose members Casual, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Souls of Mischief are featured on four of Beats & Lyrics' 12 tracks -- take their hip hop very seriously. In the early '90s Del and (a few years later) teammates Souls of Mischief and Casual released debut albums and singles that emphasized the creative use of production skills, lyrics, and attitude. Today, without major-label support, their collective sound and vocal styles feel like home to hundreds of hip-hop heads. Since the contracts evaporated the Hieroglyphics have been making their way across the tumultuous landscape of independent hip hop, answering to no one but themselves and their fans. Their presence here, along with a half-dozen other unsigned acts (Pharcyde hold the lone contract of all of the participants on the Beats compilation), is both a nod of approval from the independent label and a reaffirmation that the rap underground is not only listening, but responding to the creative impulses driving it to generate affecting hip hop.

"Three Emcees" is a subtle head-nodder that covers all four bases: beats, loops, cuts, and rhymes. The musical complexity makes it a soundtrack for getting high; as such it lacks both the gravity of traditional Jeep music and the energy of hip-hop dance music. As a series of choppy chords provide a dissonant melody, and a high-hat plays off of a simple snare-kick drum arrangement, EQ's scratches float in over the top, disappearing during the verses of MCs Xzibit, Del, and Casual. Full of metaphor, rhythm, and melody, Del smashes great big SAT words up against urban slang and traditional English, employing singsong cadences that taunt, "My style's better than yours."

On Del's solo track, "Help Me Out" -- possibly EQ's most sonically complex arrangement here -- the MC bounces from one thought to another without warning, remaining elusive until the final verse. Suddenly, he's describing the evolution of an average rap listener, tracing his subject's earliest experiences with hip hop back to Public Enemy's socially conscious rap. Then the listener, explains Del, discovers the double-edged sword of N.W.A., as violent and misogynistic as they are honest. Mom doesn't like the music of course; and Baby Brother, ignorant of the difference between reality and fiction, emulates the hustling drug sellers and gangbangers N.W.A. glorify. Which brings us to the present: "Used to be a momma's boy, now you a grown man, with no plan."

Better yet is the accessible cut by Oakland undergrounders Living Legends/Mystik Journeymen. Frank and deliberate in its execution of beats and rhymes, steadfast in personal integrity and creative resolve, Living Legend's "Nowyouno" feels like a catchall comeuppance for every MC who's tried to clinch a record deal without paying dues. The hypnotic organ loop and James Brown-inspired backbeat give "Nowyouno" an undeniable all-absorbing groove. Then, just when you think you've heard near-perfection, in saunter the track's resident lyricists -- Eligh, Aesop, Grouch, Murs, PSC, and BFAP -- shoulder to shoulder like the gunslingers in The Wild Bunch: "You say that on the album, you better live it/ Or give that shit a rest/ Because I'm tired of you muthafuckas not being put to the test." Here -- steeped in individual creativity -- hip hop is a hustle like any other: Live your rhymes, or shut the fuck up. The sentiment echoes Mac Shawn's words for Notorious B.I.G. on the Million Dollar Dream comp: Play in the hip-hop game, but don't take it lightly. You do that, and you're in literal or the creative equivalent of mortal danger.