Music: Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, De La Soul

In 1991 this hip-hop trio released an album entitled De La Soul Is Dead; its bright new CD proves that the announcement was premature. Art Official Intelligence has an impressively eclectic lineup of guests, including Busta Rhymes, Chaka Khan and members of the Beastie Boys (Mike D and Ad Rock). De La Soul’s songs, like the warm, stuttery Set the Mood, lack the vulgar, low-riding punch of gangsta rap, but they find strength in invention.

–By Christopher John Farley