B-Legit

Block Movement (SMC/Sick Wid It)

Apart from cousin E-40, B-Legit is the most accomplished rapper from Vallejo's Sick Wid It camp, his danked-out baritone providing the ideal complement to 40's high-pitched, hyperspeed delivery. With two mid-'90s discs for Jive, and two on Koch earlier this century, Block Movement is B-La's fifth solo album, and it shows just how far the Bay Area's original Savage has evolved since his most popular release, The Hemp Museum (Jive, 1996). Where that album relied heavily on 40's early blueprint – a solid mob foundation by the likes of Studio Ton and Mike Mosley – Block Movement shows B-La cultivating a distinct artistic sensibility. Other than 40's guest spot on "Guess Who's Back," produced by longtime associate Rick Rock, the album's best tracks – "Sick Wid It" (Damon Todd), "Trap Game" (Bedrock and Clyde Carson), "Get High" (One Drop Scott) – have little resemblance to 40's recent hyphy phase, taking advantage instead of the sheer depth of B's voice to explore more atmospheric vocal effects. This tendency is heightened by appearances from vocalists Harm and Naté on a trio of tracks produced by LJ, recalling his work on BavGate's The InstaGator (Black Mafia/Thizz, 2004).

The only missteps on Block Movement result from the few obvious attempts to ensure regional crossover success: "Block 4 Life," with Jadakiss and Styles P; "Where Dem Hoes At," with Paul Wall; and the crunk snoozefest "Handle Up." That's part of the game these days, but the album gains immeasurably by excluding these. Otherwise, Block Movement shows B-Legit has fully come into his own. (Garrett Caples)

Aoki Takamasa and Tujiko Noriko

28 (FatCat)

There is a fine line between being taken to another state and simply being shown what another state of being might sound like. No one wants to almost float. The promise of being elevated to a different plane is so enticing and exciting that when it doesn't really pan out, we're left with immediate feelings of dismissal and disappointment.

Tujiko Noriko has been mixing experimental electronica and avant-pop with very nice results for the last several years. She has had to overcome constant comparisons to Björk in the now flooded world of dreamy electronica. Yet something about her voice and subtle touch conveys organic warmth atop the glitches and static. 28 is her two-years-in-the-making collaborative record with fellow Japanese-born electronic artist Aoki Takamasa.

An interesting age, 28. Old enough to know that you are supposed to know better, but young enough not to be 30. Aoki and Tujiko finished the album when they both found themselves living in Paris, and the final product lucidly weaves in and out of itself. Tujiko's inviting vocals spin around layers of electronic noise and cozy laptop production. The album at times has the ability to lift you into a space that shimmers with warmth and tenderness. It's not a masterpiece, so as I listen to it, I find myself sometimes resistant, which is silly – 28 is a really good record. But since we are so lacking in warmth and tenderness in our world, when it's offered, we almost want to hold out for the great magic carpet we think might really take us into the rainbows and clouds. We should just be thankful we got a hug from someone we can trust. (Irwin Swirnoff)

Nelly

Sweatsuit (Universal)

Nelly got greedy during the 2004 Christmas season, simultaneously releasing two CDs, both short on time, when one would have been better. If the weak tracks from Sweat and Suit had been dropped, there would have been just enough strong songs left over to make up one dynamite disc, which is pretty much what Santa Nelly and his helpers at Universal delivered for the 2005 holidays. Sweatsuit consists of 13 of the 24 numbers from the previous two CDs, along with 3 new recordings and 1 from last year's The Longest Yard soundtrack.

The St. Louis rapper's marketing skills in some ways outmatch his gifts as a lyricist. Why, for instance, does he tack the letter o to the ends of body and hottie when the two words rhyme more cleverly in their unaltered forms? And is it really necessary – as in a remake of Teddy Pendergrass's "Come Go with Me," now titled "My Place" – to introduce profanity into an otherwise tender old-school love song?

Of the new stuff, the Jermaine Dupri-produced "Grillz" stands out. The track, which borrows from "Soldier" by Destiny's Child, pops at a medium grind as Nelly, Paul Wall, and Ali and Gipp of St. Lunatics gleefully celebrate an infinite variety of front-teeth bling. Girls, not grills, are the subjects of many other tunes, from the women with extensions and dreadlocks who populate the pulsating "Flap Your Wings" to the country girls, city girls, black-haired senoritas, African, "light skin, Asian bitches, and pink toes" extolled in the very catchy "Pretty Toes." And then there's a freshly minted four-on-the-floor response to the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Nasty Boy" titled "Nasty Girl." Nelly is an equal-opportunity ladies' man, which may well be his ultimate gift in selling himself. (Lee Hildebrand)