YoYo: Gritty as the Streets of L.A.

YO YO

“You’d Better Ask Somebody”

EastWest

* * * 1/2

On YoYo’s two previous albums, it was easy to lump her into a convenient category with other accessible, Afro-centric female rappers such as Queen Latifah. But this time, the Los Angeles ally of Ice Cube joins many of her male rap brethren in glorifying the gangsta ideology.

Unapologetically profane and street-wise, YoYo abandons the comfort zone, describing an inner-city wasteland full of drugs and gunplay. Suddenly, she sounds more like N.W.A.--specifically Ice Cube--than Salt-N-Pepa.

There’s nothing pretty or spiritually uplifting about her gritty descriptions of getting high (“20 Sack,” “Passing It On”) or settling scores with a bullet (“Girls With a Gun,” “Can You Handle It”). Instead, there’s a nasty, undeniably potent realism to these tracks, many co-written by YoYo and Ice Cube. But the unsavoriness of her message doesn’t lessen its impact. This is one of the most riveting records--rap or otherwise--of the year.