A Genuine Sense of Humor and Lyrical Sophiscation by Geoff Van Dyke, Impression Magazine Turn on your radio and flip through some of the stations. Or turn on MTV. Chances are, you'll hear -- and/or see -- a whole bunch of crap. Popular music, if you can believe it, is still suffering from a hangover that began somewhere around the time Mr. Cobain blew his head off. The Backstreet Boys are everywhere. And the Spice Girls -- how many are there this week? -- are still in the gossip columns, even if they're not on the airwaves all the time. The ebb and flow of "quality" pop music is a given, but this lull seems to be particularly lengthy. Bands such as Pearl Jam change things up just enough to keep it interesting, while somehow managing to always sound the same. Rap becomes less edgy by the minute, with a couple of exceptions, and old standbys such as U2 put out mediocre albums. In the wake of the shotgun blast heard 'round the world, electronica stepped up to the plate, but didn't quite make the cut. America is the country of rock-and-rollers -- and, yes, that includes hip-hop artists -- and the sterile, impersonal aesthetic of electronica never really caught on. Established artists including David Bowie and the Smashing Pumpkins incorporated elements of electronica into their sounds, but they never succeeded in creating anything more than a garbled hybrid. Which brings us to the 2 Skinnee J's. "Supermercado," (Capricorn Records) the J's major-label debut, is a hybrid of sorts, though their rapping-over-crunchy-guitar sound is nothing new -- both Rage Against the Machine and 311 have had success with the same formula. What sets the J's apart, though, are their genuine sense of humor and lyrical sophistication. How many bands beside the Beastie Boys could use the phrase "wanton juxtaposers" without sounding corny? That's what I thought. To be sure, the Beasties' influence is evident in almost every track on "Supermercado," even though the J's don't sound like the Beasties. From the inside New York references -- the current single is titled "(718)" -- to the lyrical looniness to the rapping over live instruments, the J's owe a lot to Mike D., MCA and Ad-Rock. But they also owe a lot to their Lit 101 class. Throughout the disc, they make references to "Moby Dick", "Odysseus," "War and Peace" and Salman Rushdie. And, as with every hip-hop record, there's the requisite posturing and bravado on "Supermercado." However, any real attempt at seriousness is always undercut by a line that will make you laugh, or shake your head: "I got sass and savvy, pack flash by the paragraph / I'm more novel than 'War and Peace'," the 2 J's rap on "Ball Point Man." While the lyrics are smart and hip, musically the J's don't break any new ground. You want them to go a bit further -- to can some of the pop melodies, perhaps -- but in a way, you are afraid if they did it would all come apart at the seams. The live instruments, samples and voices blend, though, thanks to some nifty production. Even if "Supermercado" isn't one of those life-changing albums, it will move you. Physically. If you don't shake your butt or bob your head to this disk, well, don't even bother. You'd be missing the point. Because the J's are about fun. Throw "Supermercado" in your disc player, close the blinds and dance around a bit. Or just sit there and enjoy lines like these in "The Good, the Bad & the Skinnee": "And I up the ante, you can't beat the J vigilante / In the shanty bring inferno like Dante." <====