*** Us3

BROADWAY & 52nd

(Blue Note)

Four years after "Cantaloop," the dance-floor staple that thrust Us3 to the forefront of hip-hop "acid jazz" fusion, we get Broadway & 52nd, which offers nothing as addictive as that Herbie Hancock-sampled gem. Instead, producer Geoff Wilkinson has assembled an album heavy on hip-hop flair, less so on the Blue Note samples that polished Us3's brilliant Hand on the Torch debut.

Fortunately, the sounds of Broadway & 52nd are just as fresh. The opening "Come On Everybody" (reminiscent of C&C Music Factory) is destined for massive club airplay, as is "Nowadays," a rhythm-twisting ditty sampled from CC Courtney's "Why Can't I Touch You?" Alternate vocalist Shabaam Sahdeeq's rhyming style, complementary to A Tribe Called Quest leader Q-Tip's smoky approach, melts into "Sheep," a cloudy, beatnik-powered coffeehouse number. But it's lead rapper KCB's classic street-smart delivery that gives Broadway & 52nd its power. With the sharper raps plus "live" horn and piano solos, Us3 maintain the rhythm-and-melody jazz-hip-hop flow.

-- Jonathan Vena