POP MUSIC : Len’s Day in the Sun : The Canadian group borrows from old-school hip-hop to produce a bright, alternative sound.

A hit single is a small miracle, an epic mixture of melody, groove and luck. It’s a new experience for the members of Len, who have watched their “Steal My Sunshine” climb ever higher on the pop charts, brightening the summer with a buoyant blast of pop and old-school hip-hop and rescuing the group from a near-decade of underground obscurity.

The song is the sort of instantly infectious tune that many bands would recognize and treasure the very moment it was cut to tape. Not Len.

“Dude, it was under my bed until the day we had to mix it,” says band leader Marc Costanzo, a.k.a. the Burger Pimp. “The reel was actually unwound under my bed, with dust all over it. It’s a good song, and I like it, but it’s just a song.”

Behind all of this is an old-school hip-hop sound straight outta Toronto, where most of Len’s “You Can’t Stop the Bum Rush” album was recorded in Costanzo’s makeshift home studio. The 28-year-old producer-singer was joined there by Len’s crew of deejays, MCs and singer Sharon Costanzo--Marc’s older sister--to craft an unlikely alternative to both bubble-gum pop and mainstream rap.

The results so far include a gold-certified album in the U.S. (shipments of at least 500,000 copies), a Top 40 single in “Steal My Sunshine” and heavy rotation on MTV for the song’s video.

The music on “You Can’t Stop the Bum Rush” is exuberant and sometimes silly, but with roots firmly planted in Costanzo’s adolescent memories of such hip-hop pioneers as Schoolly D, the Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, LL Cool J and the Fat Boys. It’s a bright and upbeat sound, in stark contrast to the often dark and confrontational tone of much ‘90s rap.

“The reason why we listen to a lot of old-school is that new-school hip-hop--besides underground [stuff]--is so lost,” says Marc Costanzo. Looking back to early ‘80s hip-hop seemed a natural solution. “We all started listening to hip-hop back then, so we were just going back to it.”

While the band does not deny the upbeat vibe of the new album, Sharon Costanzo suggests that it was less an aesthetic choice than simply a reflection of better times for the six-member band, which had enjoyed few substantial rewards beyond a cult following in Canada since forming in 1991. Signing with the Work Group label (since absorbed by Epic Records) left Len in a fine mood indeed.

“This album is a happy album and it feels good,” says Sharon, 31, who grew up with her brother in Montreal before the family moved to Toronto 10 years ago. “The next one, who knows? It all depends on what happens between here and the time we start recording again.”

The band’s unexpected chart success, she adds, may simply reflect a need for positive messages. “In the ‘90s, we went through a lot of angst music, very dark introspective whining,” she says. “It had its merits, but I think people are sort of ready to party.”

Len began in 1991 mainly as a punk band, back when Marc Costanzo favored heavy boots and bomber jackets. His sister joined the band a year later on vocals. Len was named after a high school pal named Lenny (“the funniest dude you every met in your whole life,” says Marc), and specialized in punk-pop.

“We would smash our instruments after five minutes onstage, because we didn’t know how to play,” Marc says. “We would try to play our [stuff] live, and people would come to see us to spit out blood or whatever.”

He was already a fan of hip-hop, and when he began recording bands for free at his home studio, Costanzo came into contact with a variety of Canadian DJ talent, including future Len members DJ Moves and D-Rock. As his own ears grew tired of straight-ahead punk, Marc began experimenting with beats.

After releasing two Len albums independently, Costanzo now orchestrates an excitable blend of rap, funk grooves, indie rock and electronica with lyrics on adolescent love, stepping far away from a mainstream rap sound that he says has grown ever more predictable.

During the making of “You Can’t Stop the Bum Rush,” the musicians realized that their big label connections offered new opportunities. They were already recording on vintage gear. Soon they were even inviting such hip-hop heroes as Kurtis Blow and Biz Markie to rap on the album. The latter’s slurred, off-center rap on the track “Beautiful Day” is a highlight filled with warmth and humor.

“Biz said, don’t worry about what you put on the record, don’t worry about what people say,” Marc recalls. “He was a real good inspiration to us.”

A less likely collaborator was C.C. DeVille of Poison, who provided metal guitar leads on “Feelin’ Alright” and appears in the song’s video. Mixing pop genres seems to come easily to the band, but Costanzo insists that there are boundaries even Len won’t cross.

“There’s only so far you can take it,” he says. “For me to explore somewhere, I got to know what I’m doing. I’ve got to really believe I’m not pushing my luck.”

For instance, Costanzo is offended when a rock band adds scratch effects to an album merely as a commercial gimmick, attempting to tap into the lucrative beat culture. “All these bands hiring B-boys to dance for them in videos and [stuff],” he complains, “and they’ve never been to a B-boy battle in their lives. That’s a problem.”

Len is set to begin a five-week national tour in October, but Costanzo is already planning the next album sessions. The band will leave behind his Toronto studio for the mountains of Nova Scotia and will record with an expanded lineup under the new name of the Len Crew.

“We’re just going to get drunk every night for two months and make a record, and just make songs and songs and songs with all our boys trapped in a house,” Marc says with a laugh. “And we’re going to make sure there’s enough cheese and wine for everybody.” *