The Team
The Negro League (Moe Doe)

Guardian photo of the Team by Alexander Warnow Photography,
taken at San Francisco’s Toxic Beach, at 24th and Third Streets.

The Negro League is the kind of strong, versatile debut that holds potential for future greatness. Kaz, a.k.a. Kyzah, Mayne Mannish, and low-toned Clyde Carson trade verses on dis tracks ("Keep It G.A.N.G.S.T.A."), party anthems ("I'm on One"), and even ballads for the ladies ("Love to Love U"), and the album's second half finds them trying on some other styles for size. Beginning with a munchkin-voiced sample from the beginning of Aretha Franklin's "Angel," "I Got a Call" owes a debt to Jay-Z for its confessional mode. More impressively, "The Cycle" has the jazz cool and philosophical reach of A Tribe Called Quest.

Their style might have East Coast appeal, but there's no mistaking where the Team are coming from – Richmond, Oakland, 550 Barneveld, Mission Rock, and Bay to Breakers get name-checked. Keak da Sneak guests on "Moe Doe," and Left from the Frontline produces "The Hype," but studio whiz ShoNuff might be the secret MVP here. "Keep It G.A.N.G.S.T.A." 's fusion of bhangra beats and tremolo-laden guitar calls Ennio Morricone to mind, and on the KMEL-FM track "It's Gettin Hot," he manages to build a sound that's both big and sleek over a bass line so thick that it distorts. (Johnny Ray Huston)

The Federation
The Album (Virgin)

Producer Rick Rock has gotten the lion's share of attention bestowed on the Federation, and it's partly easy to hear why: on "Hyphy" he lets loose a hook that's like a mosquito dive-bombing your ear, while deep in the center of "Go Dumb" there's a heavy-breathing rhythm reminiscent of Kraftwerk on their bicycles. "Go to Work" even has a sick echo effect not far from Stacy Q's "Two of Hearts." Rock knows how to draw other signature sounds into his own: "What Is It" is a funky concoction that mixes crunk with horrorcore.

The strut and slink of the guitar sample on "You Might See Me" rivals Dr. Dre, but the lyric flips the script of 2Pac's "U Can't See Me," compiling ne'er-do-well activities, from stealing baby mamas to "watching dope fiends ride 10-speeds." Mocking TV news coverage of violence in Oakland, the Federation are consistently comic without falling into gimmicky clichés. "Ghetto Love Song" segues into "In Love with a Hoodrat" 's sweet whine chorus. The latter closes with some helpful advice: "If your girl has red dye in her hair, she's probably a Hoodrat.... If she enjoys fighting and going to jail, she's definitely a hoodrat."

If – as "Hyphy" complains – the rest of the country "forgot about the West Coast" after Pac died, The Album is a loud wake-up call. There's a Dirty South undercurrent to a number of bone-crushing aggro call-and-responses here, and the most outsized Federation character, Doonie Baby, matches Busta-like antic energy with Cee-lo's endearing bumptious throatiness. (JRH)

The Frontline
Who R You? (Landmark Entertainment/Infrared Music Group)

The Frontline came up with the New Bay tag, and they're catching enough shit that they start off with an intro that advises haters to stop bumpin' their gums and follow Mama's advice (don't say anything if you don't have anything nice to say). The catchphrase does some pragmatic promo for a duo who aren't as glossy as the Team or as comical as the Federation. Left and Locksmith serve up a serious worldview that's weightier, and often as vision-altering as the tinted pics on their debut disc.

Who R You?'s music is stripped-down, old school-tinged, and hard-edged when it isn't clunky and heavy-handed. "Playing wit' Fire" borrows a "We Will Rock You" backbeat, but it's Locksmith who really rocks the track, unleashing a string of references that slingshot in unpredictable directions, like Eminem with a sense of rhythm. As he says, he can "stretch metaphors like a Chinese jump rope," and the battle skills that brought him to national attention on MTV are abundant, whether he's breaking down the contrast between "oui" and "we" or the difference between Oakland, Richmond, and Frisco and the rest of the country. To put it another way, you are the "you" in Who R You?'s title, and you don't get an easy, free ride.

Lock and straight man Left are sometimes fresher than the sounds they're paired with ("Recognize" digs up "Iron Man" for the millionth time), but usually the lean accompaniment showcases their strengths as they trace crack's wrath, mock sellouts with no truth in their lyrics, and protest a system that has childhood friends and family members in the ground or locked up. Ronald Reagan gets no love on "Don't Push Me," but the Frontline don't have to name names to make their intentions clear. 2Pac's thug aura may be grasped at by countless imitators, but Who R You? aims for something different – his political power. (JRH)