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(Maverick)

Oh, to be Paul Oakenfold, a globe-trotting superstar DJ who breaks the hot tracks and produces his own music with the aid of -- let's be honest here -- any other artist looking to increase their cool quotient. With that mix of success and connections, you might think Oakenfold's latest album, "A Lively Mind," can't miss.

Well, it's not a full swing and a miss, but the album suffers from a too-safe blend of electronic sounds that are slowly paced, overpolished and not very progressive.

There's lots of 'feat.' action here -- tracks featuring Brittany Murphy, Grandmaster Flash and Pharrell Williams -- yet only one golden track in the bunch.

Murphy helps Oakenfold's cause a bit on "Faster Kill Pussycat," as the Hollywood actress growls and coos through the standout dance track, proving she's no rookie on the microphone. But then comes the iffy stuff, such as Pharrell's assist on "Sex N' Money." Relentless, redundant, repetitive and uninspiring from two guys who ought to know better. Other tracks suffer from a similar pulse paralysis.

"A Lively Mind" is high on production value, but low on memorable beats. The Brittany Murphy track is the only one worth hearing twice.

Somewhere there's a 40-something guy driving around in his mid-life crisis Porsche with the top down playing this CD and trying to impress the cool club kids.

Mr. Porsche is failing, and this time it's Paul's fault. Grade: B-

Yung Joc

"New Joc City"

(Bad Boy South/Atlantic)

Atlanta rap newcomer Yung Joc had some of the unlikeliest fans long before the release of his anticipated debut album. Tom Cruise and U.S. soccer star Clint Dempsey have been seen doing the MC's signature "Joc'n" dance, which mimics the revving of a motorcycle. (Cruise got down while promoting "Mission Impossible 3" on BET, and Dempsey's display was a post-goal celebration during a World Cup warm-up match.)

Joc demonstrated the dance in the video for his chart-topping song "It's Goin' Down," and it's little surprise the tune has made such mainstream inroads. Acts from Atlanta have dominated the rap scene this year, with major party anthems from Dem Franchize Boyz, Young Jeezy and D4L. Joc's woozy flow and the synth-driven track are along similar undeniably catchy lines. But on "Hear Me Coming," Joc's quick to assert: "A one-hit wonder? How the hell you figure that?/ My rhymes like crack, fiends screaming, 'Gimme that."'

Um, not exactly. Joc's monotonous delivery is largely limited to tales of crack dealing, gun bucking and woman chasing, and it grows tiresome by mid-disc. The subtle acoustic guitar riffs that flit between the crass come-ons of "1st Time" (featuring R&B whiner Marques Houston) are welcome relief. But on "Patron," he forces: "Gotta get the riches/ From the looks of thangs/ Y'all getting JC Penney's." Such lyrical duds threaten to keep Joc from realizing his next-big thing potential. Grade: C-

Ice Cube

"Laugh Now, Cry Later"

(Lench Mob)

The recent knock against Ice Cube is that he spends too much time playing Hollywood mogul and not enough in the recording booth. Consequently, his seventh solo disc, "Laugh Now, Cry Later," is an attempt to allay fears that the elder statesman has lost his gangsta rap mojo.

Cube has his moments, remotely sounding as angry and controversial as he did on 1993's "Lethal Injection." The first single, "Why We Thugs" is a Scott Storch-produced track critiquing the prison system: "But who's the animal who built this prison/ Who's the animal who invented lower living?" And on "The N a Trap," he takes aim at a diverse set of so-called victimizers and sellouts, from President Bush and California Gov. Schwarzenegger to the black church and Flavor Flav for loving white women.

Still, the incendiary sentiments can't mask the tepid production and uninspired rhymes about familiar hood pastimes. Lil Jon regurgitates his unmistakable crunk sonics on several tracks. Meanwhile, on "Stop Snitchin'," Cube invokes that popular rap catch phrase while Swizz Beats' dissonant synths plod along underneath. There's also a ganja anthem for the brain-cell-killing set ("Smoke Some Weed") and a predictable nod to West Coast car culture ("Chrome & Paint"). Only near the disc's end, on the G-funk workout "Spittin' Pollaseeds," does the rap vet hint at the organic Cali rap sound he helped create in the late '80s and mid-90s."

For now, it seems Cube has applied what he's learned in Tinsletown all too literally. "Laugh Now" sounds too scripted and market-researched for its own good. Grade: C


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