On his debut album, Chino XL takes rap back to the hallowed African-American tradition of capping, in which black kids stand in front yards and shoot verbal arrows into each others' asses. Chino was the one who'd stun the entire neighborhood into silence with his ruthlessness.

Puns, venomous similes ("My company is fucking me like Arsenio does Eddie Murphy," Chino raps in "No Complex") and quotes from the pop-culture spin-dial form tangents whose seemingly tenuous links to each other are surprisingly durable; there's a method to the meanness. Chino slashes mainly to exalt himself, often just for the hell of it and, at his best, to weave riveting narratives. In "Kreep," he funnels Beck into Radiohead for a chorus ("I'm a kreep/I'm a loser.... I wish I was special") that upends the scalding misogyny of the song's verses. That juxtaposition adroitly illuminates the rage, fear and insecurities that fuel womanhatred in hip-hop and beyond.

"It's All Bad" offers snatches of hopelessness, apathy and suicidal urges to vent bottomless pain, all while remaining convincingly hardcore. With Here to Save You All, Chino XL marks himself as one "yella nigga" to watch out for. (RS 735)

ERNEST HARDY