All in the Family
While many pale-faced rap crews follow paths blazed a decade ago by the Beastie Boys, Lordz of Brooklyn seem to have been conceived as an inner-city white-trash rival to the House of Pain gang. Where HOP insert Irish pride in slots usually reserved for Afrocentric rap, Lordz of Brooklyn look toward the Italian enclaves of their namesake borough. And in the proud tradition of HOP's questionable ethnic credibility, LOB are led by two brothers named McLeer--there doesn't seem to be a realpaisanoin the bunch.  But hey, rap is like pro wrestling: the more real it claims to be, the more reason to doubt it. The Lordz grab a gimmick and milk it--no more, no less. While using theGoodFellasscript as source material, LOB craft their image as Mom-loving, God-fearing, U.S.-flag-waving, union-dues-paying, blue-collar bad boys with a Mafia-like brotherhood code. In "American Made," the centerpiece of their debut album,All in the Family, they assert their identity with an effective (though thoroughly unfunky) country-rock riff and gruff raps like "I'm a Lord to the day that I die / Real man drives a Chevy, drinks a Bud when he's dry." Pool halls, card games, one-way trips to Coney Island--you get the idea.--Roni Sarig