With his Def Squad project riding high on the charts for the past several weeks, you'd think that the only numbers on rapper Keith Murray's mind would be the rapidly mounting sales figures of El Nino, the country's No. 9 R&B album this week. |

Well, think again, since Murray is probably more pre-occupied with the numeric range from three-to-five -- which is what he's facing next week when he goes before a Connecticut judge to try to overturn a sentence that was handed down in January of 1997.

Murray has already been found guilty of second-degree assault for smashing a teenage fan over the head with a barstool during a scuffle back in '95, but his lawyers are apparently invoking old-fashioned millionaire's privilege in insisting the sentence be overturned with no jail time served.

All concerned parties will appear before Judge James Graham next Wednesday to determine if Murray has to take the rap for doing the rapping. (David Sprague)