In Brief

* * * MC Ren, “Kizz My Black Azz,” Ruthless/Priority. The notorious lead rapper of latter-day N.W.A. has a deep-voiced, articulate delivery and a drop-dead brutal style that have been incredibly influential. Though his rhyming isn’t what you’d call subtle, it’s the stuff that scares you the most. And on Ren’s first solo effort, there is the N.W.A. dilemma in a nutshell: beats you can’t resist married to violent, sexist rhymes you can’t believe. As with N.W.A.’s famous anthem “F--- tha Police,” “Kizz My Black Azz” comes across less as a defiant statement of power than as a poignant, impotent cry from the heart.