Underground-hip-hop purists have always prided themselves on their valiant, virile struggle with the "realness" of no radio play, no contracts and no crossover. That said, the other side of the rap game is about getting paid. Thus, Lyricist Lounge (Volume One), a double album spawned from the seven-year-old New York-based traveling venue at which unsigned artists express themselves for an "appreciative, nonviolent crowd." (Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep and a fourteen-year-old Foxy Brown all performed there before they had contracts.) Lounge offers a mix of relatively big names, like hosts De La Soul and Kool Keith, O.C., Common (in a freestyle-rhyme session with Black Thought from the Roots, Pharoahe Monch and Absolute) and Bahamadia, next to underground rappers and a few Beat-cadenced poets.

At times the set drones like an amateur night (especially the ridiculously low-fi "Outside the Lounge"), but there's plenty of great unsigned talent here. Lounge is the only place you'll find Brooklyn poet and actor Saul Williams' "Ohm," an ambient ode to beatbox and mystical folks, on the same album with Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha and KRS-One (on the vehement "C.I.A. [Criminals in Action]," on which KRS rhymes, "I want all my daughters to be like Maxine Waters"). Charismatic newcomer Mos Def teams with Tash from the Alkaholiks and Q-Tip on Lounge's subdued first single, "Body Rock" (which takes its chorus from an old Treacherous Three song). But what really makes Lounge worth the while is Talib Kweli's clever "Manifesto," on which he traces his own historical continuum ("Back in the day, they stole our smiles, so we clothe our teeth in gold/Now we frontin'....") and outlines a ten-point plan for hip-hop. Lyricist Lounge is a commendable effort, but despite its many good intentions, the album, like the show, is mostly a mixed bag. (RS 788)

KAREN R. GOOD