Holy hip-hop high rollers

As rap stars know, experience pays. Recently, seasoned players have been coming up with the goods, rewriting the rule book with a fresher outlook than the artists they've inspired.

Perhaps the most significant about-turn sees Nas go from potty-mouthed bad boy to serious lyrical craftsman on Streets Disciple. This is the Queensbridge MC's most ambitious work yet, a sprawling 88-minute soundtrack that casts a disillusioned eye over the world's troubles with some of his most personal and passionately delivered rhymes since his debut, Illmatic, 10 years ago.

This double disc's deliberately retro packaging, pictures Nas posing as Jesus in The Last Supper. On the back he's peering out of a car's blackened window, an ominous image until you spot the church in the background.

This time "God's son" is more deserving of the iconic imagery. He hasn't softened, but he has focused on stickier issues: war, Aids, violence, the Bush administration. The American Way, a funked-up attack on complacency, is scarily close to recent events when fiancee Kelis sings, "I don't care about the hurricane, as long as my family's safe."

And yes, it's a family-oriented affair, with frequent referrals to his daughter, Destiny, and a great track with his dad, blues player Olu Dara. Bridging the Gap does exactly what it promises, bringing together two generations of music that fuse as naturally as the father and son. But Nas knows there's only so much sentimentality you can get away with in hip-hop, a point he makes on Getting Married ("This ain't no sucka for love shit/ This ain't no Huxtable kisses and hugs shit") and Live Now, which starts off as a heart-wrenching hospital room saga, then slips into an explicit narrative about his promiscuous past.

Given the CD's length, it's not surprising it tends to lag in places. Even his deathbed confessions can't save it from a production that is often no more than a monotonous loop. Never does it dare to outshine the street disciple himself - which is probably the point.

Likewise, Snoop Dogg isn't the most dangerous pooch in the pound any more, so it makes sense that he, too, has reinvented himself as a biblical character. On Rhythm & Gangsta he's a modern-day John the Baptist.

Reflecting on his good old days as a bad-ass, he throws in a few token lines about not hitting your woman and ends the album with the message that dope dashes hope. But his sermons mean jack next to typically misogynist cuts Fresh Pair of Panties On and You Got to Control Yo Hoe, and the self-explanatory Let's Get Blown with Pharrell.

But most of all, he's successfully swapped the G-funk for minimalist crunk, hooking up with uber-producers the Neptunes for an album that rolls by on the simplest of ideas. Drop It Like It's Hot, the virtually tuneless hit with its 80s electro riff and tongue-clicking beat is one of the most innovative hip-hop tracks of the year, and no one but Snoop could have pulled off that low-slung, sexy murmuring over the top. Elsewhere he spreads an easy-listening, soul-funk vibe with everyone from Justin Timberlake and 50 Cent to Bootsy Collins and the Bee Gees.

On the local front, hip-hop hasn't changed much, with South Auckland still making the biggest impression. Ever since their debut album stop, drop and rolled into the New Zealand hip-hop hall of fame, the Deceptikonz have been taking advantage of the power in numbers, with three of their four members branching off into solo projects, and thankfully, distinct identities.

It's a year since Mareko released the hard-hitting White Sunday and only a few weeks before Savage's solo debut looks set to top the pop charts. Lurking under the radar in between is Alphrisk's aptly named The Best Kept Secret, the most laidback of all three.

Alphrisk may not be the collective's strongest rapper - he lacks the aggressive flow and commercial might of his cohorts. He even apologises after delivering a joke about Brooke Fraser. But he's still a witty and stylish MC whose leisurely rhymes roll sublimely over the Deceptikonz' best production yet. At times it's dark and dramatic, like the screaming violins on Move Forward, the anthemic horn-powered Hands Up and the brooding instrumentals of My People. At others it's dreamy, as in the summer Nesian vibe of Sunshine featuring Adeaze. This best-kept secret deserves to see the light of day.

Ludacris meanwhile, is up to his old tricks as hip-hop's leading funnyman, delivering punchlines as thick and fast as that afro. Thankfully, unlike his last effort, Chicken 'n' Beer, there's more to this than his class-clown antics. Get Back is Ludacris at his best; smart-arse lyrics shouting out over a simple bouncy bass line. Hell, it's virtually one long hook. But it's one of the few tracks that gets away without a decent chorus.

What starts out as an awesome skew-whiff Austin Powers-sample on Number One Spot sounds more and more like an irritating twittering bird. Blueberry Yum Yum would be a stomper of a track if it actually went somewhere. Things get more interesting when Luda tries on a sexy R&B persona with Nate Dogg on Child of the Night, heads for Missy Elliott crunk territory on the Timbaland-produced The Potion and goes weird on Large Amounts, which sounds like a circus act gone wrong with its Oliver! samples. Quite odd.

So too is Madvillain's Madvillainy, a concept album from underground heavyweights Madlib and MC Doom. You could say it's for ADHD sufferers with taste. Based loosely on a theme of comic-book baddies and narrated as though it leaps off the page, it lurches between songs and strange cinematic snippets, fading unexpectedly as though part of a stoned dream (check America's Most Blunted or Rainbows). Occasionally you wish you'd just wake up but it's easier to follow Doom's lead and enjoy the trip, a rhyme style so loose it's virtually lyrical jazz. Madlib's production also follows in an experimental, Giles Peterson vein but with warped ideas like backward-looping piano accordions and samples taken from what sound like old TV shows, 70s Blaxploitation and Kung Fu films. It makes for an intriguing listen, and hopefully shows artists staying away from the hip-hop factory line. The rules are made to be bent. 

Snoop Dogg: Rhythm & Gangsta: The Masterpiece
Herald rating: * * * *
Label: Geffen
Old dog learns new tricks but remains disobedient 

Nas: Streets Disciple
Herald rating: * * * *
Label: Columbia
Ambitious double album from self-proclaimed Messiah

Alphrisk: The Best Kept Secret
Herald rating: * * *
Label: Dawnraid
The Deceptikonz's 'quiet one' gets loud

Ludacris: The Red Light District
Herald rating: * * *
Label: Def Jam
Rap's class clown guy polishes off some new punchlines 

Madvillain: Madvillainy
Herald rating: * * * *
Label: Rhythm Method
Underground heroes reinvent hip-hop jazz