Stereo MC’s: Rapping to the Top With an English Beat : Pop music: One of the few U.K. rap acts to gain a foothold in the United States, the band’s ‘Connected’ is moving up the singles charts.

In America, rap music can be a ticket to the top--in the latest Billboard magazine national singles chart, four of the Top 10 records are by rap artists.

That’s not the case in England, which has yet to produce a commercially significant rap movement. That’s surprising, given that nation’s history of sending back return volleys of American pop styles with a public-pleasing spin.

“In a lot of ways it’s quite hard for a rap group in England to survive,” said Rob Birch, co-founder of Stereo MC’s, one of the few U.K. rap acts to gain a foothold here.

In 1991, “Elevate My Mind” became the first English rap single to crack the American Top 40, and the current single “Connected” is moving toward the national Top 20. The Stereo MC’s are on a U.S. tour opening for Jesus Jones that includes a show tonight at the Universal Amphitheatre.

“It’s quite hard to sell more than 4,000 or 5,000 records in England if what you’re doing is fairly hard-core rap music,” continued Birch, who goes by the name Rob B. “I think everybody making rap music in England is doing it because they want to do it. They’re not doing it for the money. They’d be a fool thinking they could do that. They’re proud of the music they’re making, just in the belief that one day it’s gonna gradually get out to more people.”

“Although it’s not been a high-profile thing, I think probably a lot of English music like that has had a pretty big impact,” offers the group’s deejay and mixer Nick Hallam (a.k.a. the Head), sharing the phone with his bandmate from a tour stop in Missouri.

“A lot of people who make music hear those records, whereas the general public don’t,” he added. “And a lot of American rap crews have been going to London for the last 10 years, so they’re bound to have an impact. I think London Posse probably pioneered the kind of reggae hip-hop style. To me they was doing it before any American groups were doing that.”

Adds Birch: “It’s getting better now, because English emcees (rappers) are just trying to be individual and sound like where they come from, rather than being too influenced by what goes on across the sea.”

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That might be a key to the success of “Connected.” The title track from the MC’s’ second album is not strictly a rap single. While the track rides on a whooshing sample of Miami funkster Jimmy (Bo) Horne’s “Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover),” Birch’s sing-song, Cockney-accented vocal reflects the group’s evolving pan-soul sound, which embraces conventional singing and instrument-playing in addition to rapping and sampling.

Hallam and Birch, both in their early 30s, teamed up at the dawn of the ‘80s after both moved from Nottingham to London, where they were barraged by black music styles. A friend in New York sent them tapes of early rap music recorded from radio, and they began making their own rap records.

In addition to their 1990 debut album, “Supernatural,” they produced remixes of records by such American rappers as Monie Love, Queen Latifah and the Jungle Brothers. Along with its sound, the group has expanded its lineup, and now includes drummer Owen If and singers Cath Coffey, Verona Davis and Andrea Groves.

“Connected’s” lyrics urge the breaking down of barriers, a sentiment that pretty much summarizes the Stereo MC’s’ mission.

“We’re not really part of any scene in England,” Birch said. “I just feel like there’s other people out there making music, they’re doing it in the same day and age as we are, and I feel like there’s a lot of people who have a common purpose. . . . I feel that purpose-wise a lot of the music that’s coming out of England is really born out of the frustration of what is happening in the world.

“The music that you listen to sometimes is really important to your life, like reading books. Some books, they ain’t just books, they’re really important stages in your life, ‘cause they make you think a certain way and feel a certain way, and they shed light on how you want to live and how your soul feels and all things like that.”