[living large] ON A BORING BACKGROUND

For anyone who saw the recent MTV Video Music Awards, the surreal highlight of the evening was not Da Brat's prancing around in gladiator regalia, Marilyn Manson's satanic peep show or the Spice Girls' attempt at harmonization. It was when Busta Rhymes commandeered the stage accompanied by a very awkward looking Martha Stewart. Flashing his trademark Cheshire cat grin to the audience and stepping up to the mic with free-style gems, Rhymes made a contrived awards show moment into something genuinely memorable and exciting. He proved himself once again to be a stand-out entertainer, even among other grandstanders.

While he was a member of the rap group Leaders of the New School and when he appeared on a Tribe Called Quest's classic "Scenario," the hyper Busta set himself aside from the rest of the pack. Moving into the realm of solo performers, he took his audacious persona to another level with flashy, self-designed fashions and outlandish videos. On his solo debut, however, the originality and energy of the image never seemed to match that of his music (except with the hit "Woo-Ha"). Although a creative lyricist, Busta delivered his fractured stream of consciousness flow in both a smooth sing-song and sonic growl with an energy that very few rappers can match. But none of this could disguise the fact that the music was weak and uninspired. On his second solo effort, When Disaster Strikes, Busta still hasn't completely solved the problem of finding beats to match his visual and lyrical audacity. There aren't enough great songs like the current mega-hit "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" to overshadow the number of tunes in which the production-done mostly by the Flip Mode Squad-is generic, lagging behind Busta in all his revved up Tasmanian devil glory. When Disaster Strikes, although getting off to an excellent, outrageous start with a monologue from Rudy Ray Moore (a.k.a. Dolemite), is ultimately an uneven album. The album sways between lackluster tracks that never reach the complexity or achieve the manic energy of Busta's Lyrics or infectious, party-grooves.

On tracks when the production does match the intensity of Busta's delivery, great music is created. On tracks like "Turn It Up" (which uses a sample from Al Green's "Love and Happiness"), Busta's hyper-kinetic word play is wedded with an inspired groove to make for bass-heavy, funk perfection. Other stand-out tracks include "So Hardcore" and the title track, in which Busta mixes his fractured rap flow with his best Motown croon, punctuating it all with an indecipherable refrain (a la Missy Elliot's infamous "hee-hee-how").

With "Survival Hungry," Busta rhymes: "Once the bomb drops, here is the aftermath/scientists try to dissect the way I formulate my craft/worrying about how I achieve things, the way I analyze shit, and how I perceive things/my style is real like lamb skin imported from the Persia/follow my excursion until you feelin' the new revised version." Simultaneously silly and ferocious, Busta takes lyrical risks unlike many rappers today. Only on "Get High Tonight," another tired rap ode to marijuana, does Busta the lyricist fall flat. His rhymes are so trite and delivery so weak that not even a chorus built on K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" can save it.

Other memorable tracks feature guest performers. On "One," a contemplation of monogamy, family and love, Erykah Badu blesses the track with her hypnotic vocals and a pretty good rap. The ubiquitous Puff Daddy also appears on the guaranteed hit, "The Body Rock," which he produces and raps (along with Mase and Rampage).

When Disaster Strikes is a pretty good album-many of its tracks are guaranteed to soon be scorching a dance floor near you. By the end, however, you wish that Busta would take it to another level beat-wise. For his next album, he should enlist the production talents of the definitive "brother from another planet," Tricky, wedding his lyrical creativity to the cutting-edge soundscapes he deserves.