Drama, but No Dramatic Changes

Hip-hop fans were disappointed when the group EPMD broke up in 1993. All wasn’t lost, however, as group members Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith emerged with fresh talent, most notably Sermon’s protege Keith Murray. The hoarse-sounding rapper from Central Islip, N.Y., energetically manipulated language to fit his rhyme schemes, altering words and rules of grammar for dramatic effect.

His third solo album (due in stores Tuesday) is a thoroughly solid collection that will certainly please his fans, but it probably won’t attract many new ones. Murray’s at his best when rhyming about his verbal alacrity, but the machine-gun staccato of his voice makes a poor bet for major radio play. His stories depict a life of petty crime and subsequent woes with the legal system. (He’s currently serving a three-to-five-year prison term for a 1995 assault.)

Sermon’s signature drum-driven, relatively sample-free production remains spare and largely festive, a follow-up of sorts to his work on the album by the Def Squad, a group that includes Murray. His upbeat tracks help propel Murray and his feisty flow, while his more somber backdrops match the rapper’s reflective moments.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

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* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips