** FOXY BROWN, “Ill Na Na,” Def Jam; *** LIL’ KIM, “Hard Core,” Big Beat

At their best, New York’s Foxy Brown and Lil’ Kim prove that female emcees can bring the noise with the same ferocious fury as any man. At their worst, they show that women can be as cliched as their brothers, indulging in the sex and violence imagery that has drastically lowered hip-hop’s collective IQ.

Seventeen-year-old Foxy Brown occasionally displays dazzling skills. Unfortunately, many of her freestyles seem identical: repetitive, sound-alike rhymes about her doe eyes, homicidal tendencies and burning thighs. “Get Me Home” and the title track are the only songs on the album where it doesn’t sound as if she’s using a TelePrompTer.

Lil’ Kim sometimes falls prey to the same tendencies, but much of “Hard Core” manages to be surprisingly good. Kim is overtly sexual and defiant in ways that would give even Courtney Love pause, but she has a head-turning rhyme delivery, shifting from crime narratives to bragging raps with remarkable ease. The descriptive “Spend a Little Doe,” the mesmerizing “Drugs” and the simply outrageous “Dreams” make this album worthwhile.

*

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