MC Eiht Hits Bull’s Eye

*** 1/2 MC Eiht, “We Come Strapped,” Epic Street. The innovative music--featuring the silky synthesizer sound of ‘70s R&B--helps; separate this from the rest of the gangsta-rap pack. So does Eiht’s dramatic rapping, which adds a genuinely sinister quality to such songs as “Take 2 With Me.” The fourth solo album by overlooked Eiht (a member of Compton’s Most Wanted) is arguably the best of the year so far in the gangsta genre.

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