In Brief

* * * Del the Funkyhomosapien, “No Need for Alarm,” Street Knowledge/Elektra. “Alarm” abandons the electric-disco, P-Funk-driven sound of Del’s 1991 debut album for a starker rhythmic landscape, allowing the 21-year-old Oakland rapper’s tumbling rhyme flow to shine. While the first effort was largely influenced by Del’s Southland cousin, Ice Cube, “Alarm” employs the production skills of a variety of Oaktown artists, whose use of brooding cellos, jangly pianos and obscure samples make the new album more inventive.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).