The usual overpowering ego and heavy-lidded gangster boredom are checked at the door in the leftovers and remixes on Ice Cube's Bootlegs & B-Sides -- his classy and energetic latest release. There is not any of that usual clich doped-up, non-chalance --leaving fresh, artistic lyrics. There is little of the traditional verbal sneering and swaggering about "baggin' hos" -- giving the album a hard, clean edge.

This edge was drowned out in Predator, which was swept up in the recent wave of Kmart over-funked, doped-out '70s shimmer typical of assembly line Snoop wanna-bees --a style never really suited to Ice Cube anyway.

The album's original tracks "24 wit an L" and "What Can I Do" have busy melodies under classic bass-heavy, pounding rhythms. The songs are deeper and more original than Ice Cube's usual mass-marketed fare.

The new music is driving and the remixes are stripped down to fundamental melodies to make for funkier versions of classics like "Check Yo Self" and "It Was a Good Day." They hit harder than they ever did floating around the charts.

The simple lyrics are bare and powerful -- getting back to the emotional, pre-commercial style of classic rappers. Ice Cube seems more awake and alert and has smooth, stylish passion to his old-school lyrics.

The "Lil Ass Gee" remix is an album standout of ominous background melodies in a powerful lament about armed kids.

The album is produced by Ice Cube, with the help of some little known, yet talented young producers and guest rappers whose styles and tones make his more substantial.

Unlike a lot of B-side albums that tend to be scraps and rejects from other albums, this release kicks and bites more than Predator or Lethal Injection.

It's original, energetic and gritty -- dying elements in the department store crap that is becoming rap. Through the muddle of assembly line groups and songs that flit around in the popular consciousness, Bootlegs & B-Sides is filling and substantial.