Let's assume for the moment that you don't speak French. You may not be fluent in hip-hop's urban American dialect either. But Prose Combat is still an album that will prick up your ears, if only because it strolls along the dreamlike boulevard where the two languages collide. MC Solaar, a rapper of African descent raised in Paris, delivers his sleepwalking raps in a voice that exudes such sensual pleasure you hardly notice he's not rapping in English. Solaar seems to savor each syllable as it creeps out of his mouth with all the aplomb of a stretching cat.

Solaar's music, too, has a slinking feel that would be equally at home in opium dens and basement hip-hop clubs. In "La Concubine de l'Hémoglobine," Solaar nods out over a lazy shuffle as the song slouches toward groove heaven. "Nouveau Western" is almost a rock song: The high-hat is mixed way up front so it saws in and out of the rhythm, and the deliciously drowsy Solaar mutters more than raps his lyrics with a deadpan cool that recalls some combination of Guru and Grace Jones. Prose Combat is an atmospheric album made for dancing and trancing – and since most American listeners won't be able to decipher the lyrics, they'll be able to meditate better on the spacey bass loops and the elegant, delicate vibes. As Stevie Wonder said, music is a language we all understand. (RS 697)

DIMITRI EHRLICH