Blending a street-savvy rhyme style with an academic attention to book smarts, Poly Sci, the debut from Refugee Camp member John Forté, is an eleven-song dissertation from the hood. Forté, a graduate of the gritty streets of Brownsville, Brooklyn, as well as of the manicured paths of Exeter Academy, keeps it real by keeping it balanced. Along the way he offers some grooves that will move the crowd.

"Ninety Nine (Flash the Message)" takes its hook from Nena's pop hit "99 Luftballons" – at first hearing, the track seems like just another case of the current hits-from-the-Eighties epidemic (which the song's co-producer, Wyclef Jean, helped start). But Forté subverts the subgenre with clever rhymes that reveal a deep connection to old-school hip-hop; "Ninety Nine" is about celebrating his introduction to the rap game. "P.B.E. (Powerful Beautiful Excellent)" is the kind of rhapsodic, fine-female jam that rappers don't drop anymore, avoiding coyness with smart lyrics that never sink to gratuitous hound-dog nastiness. Poly Sci's finest moment might be "God Is Love God Is War," a galvanic statement investigating the thin line between good and evil. "Balance is a way of life," rhymes Forté over an apocalyptic groove that recalls early Public Enemy. "Right, left, north, south/Two sides balance out/Black, white, either or/God is love, God is war."

Forté displays a surer footing writing lyrics than he does on actual rapping; his vocal style flips between Jay-Z-ish Brooklynisms and the cool-pose sneers of Nas. As a writer, though, his images pop with the wise subtleties of a keen observer; Forté seems willing to learn as much as he seems willing to teach. It's the rare college that manages to be both a party school and a think tank. And it's the rare rapper who can move between both of those moods so confidently. (RS 790-791)

SCOTT POULSON-BRYANT