ALBUM REVIEWS / POP

** Eazy-E “Str8 Off Tha Streetz of . . . Compton,” Relativity.

This posthumous album represents everything Eazy-E (who died of AIDS last March) was known for: reckless violence, irresponsible sex, gleeful misogyny and, raunchy, off-kilter humor. After a series of tracks that feature the N.W.A. co-founder at the top of his skill level, the album starts a quick descent into the nasty and the ironic.

There’s the misogyny so happily played out in the Naughty by Nature-penned “Hit the Hooker.” In “My Baby’s Mama,” he attacks some of the mothers of his seven children. Only “Eternal E,” where Eazy-E does a spoken-word recitation over a Roger Troutman/Yella track, saves the second half from being a complete waste.

With more tracks in the vault and the four most important members of N.W.A. still around, it’s conceivable that Eazy-E could live again, via a “Free as a Bird”-style studio reunion. “Str8 Off Tha Streetz,” like a Ringo Starr solo album, makes one yearn for that reunion with a vengeance.

*

** 1/2 Kris Kross, “Young, Rich and Dangerous,” Ruffhouse/Columbia. It’s rare that a 16- and a 17-year-old can claim to have a “comeback” album, but Kris Kross, of “Jump” fame, does exactly that. The title song and “Money, Power and Fame” find Chris Kelly and Chris Smith less precocious and more mendacious--and producer Jermaine Dupri makes sure that their soothing sound reflects their newfound maturity in a manner that will appeal to hip-hop fans young and old.