U.K.

hip-hop groups with the temerity to adopt a hardcore stance a la the U.S.

gangsta crews were ridiculed, with good reason, for their mannered street-toughisms in the late '80s and early '90s.

Of all those who tried to convey the black urban British experience, the only crew to get close were Manchester's Ruthless Rap Assassins, who achieved some notoriety when MC Kermit subsequently joined Shaun Ryder in Black Grape.

The Killer Album stands out as a real watershed in U.K.

rap development by dint of its one outstanding track, "Justice (Just Us)." Only one other composition comes close to matching its impact -- the contrasting "Just Mellow," which advocated a return to old skool hip-hop values long before this plea had become common currency.

"Justice (Just Us)" conversely kicks off with a Bomb Squad-style martial beat and bleak scratch-DJing.

Its carefully structured narrative works because it doesn't try to impersonate American vocabulary or diction.

Instead, it challenges the listener with its insistent hookline: "There ain't no justice, just us." For a fleeting moment we had a British group worthy of citing Public Enemy's influence.