** Queen Latifah

ORDER IN THE COURT

(Flavor Unit/Motown)

Latifah has yet to make another album as hot and forceful as her debut, All Hail the Queen, which came out nine years ago. Order in the Court does begin promisingly, with the Queen barking out a steady, tricky flow that suggests she's been listening to Ghost Face Killer, on the super-tough "Bananas." After that, though, the album sinks into a series of ineffectual crossover attempts -- the pop hooks in the choruses have more oomph than Latifah's raps. She's all but abandoned the reggaefied edge and sassy verbosity of her early work, and it's not enough of a consolation that the new stuff goes down smoothly.

But the real problem with Order is creeping Puffy syndrome. Track after track is simply some old hit gussied up with some new words and maybe a little rap. There's really no excuse for changing a few words in "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and calling it "Paper," and though Latifah's a perfectly competent singer, she's not the Lauryn Hill she wants to be. She knows how to ride a sample if it's kept under control -- check out the way she bounces around the Malcolm McLaren beat of "Brownsville." But by immersing herself in the cozy glide of pop, she ignores the kind of muscular material that's her forte.

-- Douglas Wolk