CD reviews: Rakim, Annie

Rakim, "The Seventh Seal" (Ra/SMC)

For most rappers it would be presumptuous to instruct "How to Emcee," as Rakim does in the opening track of his first album since 1999. But he is entitled. In the mid-1980s, teamed with DJ Eric B., Rakim revolutionized hip-hop: replacing simple chants with shifty syncopated rhythms, adding internal rhymes within couplets, using more polysyllables than profanities and introducing a verbal density that led hip-hop to its intellectual peak.

Now, after an abortive collaboration with Dr. Dre and various guest appearances, Rakim resumes his old high seriousness and determined virtuosity. But there are snags. Like every successful innovator, he no longer stands so alone. And with the budget constraints of an independent label, this CD is produced largely by unknowns who aren't exactly trailblazing. Most tracks supply the minor chords and foreboding strings and piano of typical gangsta rap, with insistent hook singers adding clutter. And much of the subject matter is equally routine. Rakim boasts about his influence, compares hip-hop to drug dealing, claims street credibility, savors sex and proclaims his hip-hop loyalty.

JON PARELES, NEW YORK TIMES

Annie, "Don't Stop" (Smalltown Supersound)

From La Roux to Little Boots, there was no shortage of indie-approved Euro electro-pop available in 2009. And showing up in the United States a full year after its European release (albeit in altered form) is "Don't Stop," the follow-up to Norwegian pop star Anne Lilia Berge-Strand's 2004 "Anniemal." Here, Annie's particularly good at lacing percolating grooves with bummed-out undercurrents, as on the breathy "Bad Times." She's catty on "My Love Is Better," which features Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos on guitar, and suggests a boring rock-boy spice up his sound by buying a sequencer in "I Don't Like Your Band." A late arrival to the hipster dance party that's more than welcome.