In Brief

*** Das EFX, “Straight Up Sewaside,” EastWest. Rappers Drayz and Books couldn’t be expected to turn hip-hop on its ear again, as they did when they introduced their much-copied jabber-speak style on their 1992 debut album, “Dead Serious.” The follow-up is lively and punchy, but not innovative. Still, it’s fun to listen to them spew out funky raps littered with clever nonsense. New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

* Times Link 808-8463 With this issue, Sunday Calendar introduces a new phone service for readers. To hear excerpts from any of the albums reviewed, call TimesLink and press * and the artist’s corresponding four-digit code. Domino *5710 Alice in Chains *5711 ZZ Top *5712 Shai *5713 Bobby Brown *5714 Mary J. Blige *5715 Das EFX *5716 Jody Watley *5717 TimesLink is available in the (213), (310), (714), (818) and (909) area codes.