**1/2 EPMD

BACK IN BUSINESS

(Def Jam)

There are no precedents in hip-hop for the astounding first half of this comeback album. Back in the late '80s and early '90s, EPMD's thick-tongued boasts and cold-eyed disses set the stage for the cinematic polish of the West Coast gangstas that followed. But now that Compton has finally surrendered the spotlight, the duo's original raw, slo-mo style is being revived by a new generation of East Coast rappers. And this revival seems to have inspired the originators with the kind of wizened zeal that fired up Pere Ubu on their 1988 reunion The Tenement Year, or Dylan on his 1975 comeback Blood on the Tracks. Alas, after steadily pumping out a stream of hard funk samples, infectious catch phrases, and amusing pop-culture references both new and old, the old-timers poop out, leaning on guest raps by overeager disciples, remakes of old hits, and a sideshow dose of horror-core. Precedents to this kind of worn-out filler are plentiful, from any genre you care to denigrate.

-- Franklin Soults