City High's two-guys-and-a-girl combination will strike inevitable comparisons to their predecessors in the hip-hop neo- soulster sweepstakes, namely Digable Planets and the Fugees. But their perimeters have been adjusted to fit the post-millennial tension that urban radio is currently experiencing. Bypassing all sorts of obvious "conscious" hipsterisms, the trio's music strikes a fine balance between self-realization and street-level realness. The fact that they chose to address such basic concerns as low-income single motherhood (on "What Would You Do") and the perils of creeping with jailbait ("15 Will Get You 20"), immediately sets them apart from both the Missy Elliotts and the Lucy Pearls of the world. Stylistically, the record is surprisingly heavy on the smoothed-out R&B tip, and singer Claudette Ortiz is unquestionably more Destiny's Child than L-Boogie. But the production, handled by executive producer Wyclef Jean, DJ Clark Kent, and others, subverts the classic Quiet Storm formula and serves as an interesting counterpoint to the group's capable vocals. City High is a keeper. --Rebecca Levine
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