Murda Muzik

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

This hip-hop duo, like many other hard-core rap groups, writes songs about urban violence, street bravado, felonious gunplay, "baby fathers" and friends slain young. The music beneath Mobb Deep's lyrics, however, is oddly restful. The contrast between the jagged lyrics and the smooth rhythms that propel them gives the group's new record a thoughtful quality and a hard-to-resist listenability. One feels immersed and insulated.

--By Christopher John Farley