National new act

Everlast

Reality check

Hip-hop's an exclusive club. And though Eric "Everlast" Schrody was always tough enough to step to the bouncer, he was never tight enough to take the stage without getting clowned. Then he had a heart attack, stared death in the face, and returned with "What It's Like," a stark, moving, unaccountably wise single setting unwed mothers and thug-life half-timers up as metaphorical stand-ins for a washed-up Irish rapper learning that gold chains don't keep you warm. Granted, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues (Tommy Boy) was apparently in the can before Schrody felt the first chest pain, but it didn't matter -- one way or another, Everlast was back from the dead, sober and reflective, acting as RA to a floor full of uncouth white-rap new jacks (Eminem, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, etc.) and testifyin' about kids who'll do anything for the "ends." Most recently, he showed up on LA talk radio, fretting in the wake of the Littleton shootings over whether to release a new teen-violence-themed track he'd recorded with members of Nine Inch Nails. As Everlast obviously knows already, nothing gives you the blues like reality catching up with your rap.

-- Alex Pappademas

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Tommy Boy Record's Everlast site

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