DMX: It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (Def Jam)

FROM THE jailhouse strut perfected by mush-mouthed Edward G. Robinson in the noir classic Little Caesar to the outlaw personae cultivated by dead hiphop heroes, the gangsta boogie mythology has long enthralled the psyche of popular culture. After the senseless slayings of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. — with black folks calling local rap stations crying 'bout "we need to make a change" — one had hoped the romanticized smokin' gun mentality would be traded for a bullet-less spirituality. Hell, even Martin Scorsese — the cinematic godfather for a generation of rhyme slayers — makes movies about religion these days.