You know Tommy and Chuckie aren't real people, and you love them just the same. So what if the music on the Rugrats in Paris soundtrack isn't that real either? The songs on it are entertaining enough to love it too.

Blackstreet led the original Rugrats movie soundtrack with the childish sound effects and almost mechanical sound of their hit song "Take Me There." In this sequel soundtrack, the lead star is T-Boz Watkins (the "T" of TLC fame) and the hit song is "My Getaway." The track's trite percussion rhythms mean it won't be nominated for a Grammy anytime soon, but it does harness the cutesy spirit of the Rugrats. And while the pre-pubescent voice of Aaron Carter would be insufferable elsewhere, it fits perfectly on this soundtrack. The catchy rhythm of "Life is a Party," backed by a plethora of pre-pubescent vocals, is guaranteed to keep a classroom of sixth-graders flowing to the beat. Indeed, this soundtrack is equivalent to that mix CD you were planning to make- even the Baha Men "Who Let the Dogs Out" makes an appearance. Ubiquitous, yes, but then this soundtrack never claimed to be original. B -Patrick Chun

Pharcyde

Plain Rap (Edel America)

Plain Rap basically sums up the new album from the Pharcyde. The L.A. group spent the '90s putting out a catalog of conceptual, just-a-little-bit-over-the-top hip-hop albums and proving that they were some of the only MCs that Hammer didn't scare away from dancing on stage. The concept for this new release, though, is no concept; the Pharcyde want to tone it down and just "rap for hip-hop's sake."

Unfortunately for them, they didn't exactly beat anyone to the idea. The past two years have brought an explosion of acts that came real and kept it that way. The Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Common and Jurassic 5 have all blown up lately, not to mention fellow L.A. wildmen the Black Eyed Peas.