The spirit of competition is alive and well in Black America. At least that's the impression one gets on the soundtrack to the movie "The Fast And The Furious", which has just opened on the big screen in South Africa.

The soundtrack is full of talent — rap in particular — and one wonders just how one genre can be assaulted from so many angles by so many artists. And the language is getting more crude. On one song ("Pov City Anthem" by Cadillac Tah) almost every word is a swear word. This is why the album has a "Parental Advisory Explicit Content" warning.

There's also soul and R&B. Soul singer R Kelly still sings "Take My Time Tonight" so emotionally and Ashanti's "When A Man Goes Wrong" carries a trace of Prince's 1985 hit "Around the World In A Day".

Two artists, however, emerge as the chief contenders for the rap mantle. They are Ja Rule and one Vita. Ja Rule is the same hoarse-voiced guy who duetted with Jennifer Lopez during the recent MTV awards, and appeared so tantalised by her, breeding fear in our hearts at stages when he acted as if he would move to eat her.

Ja Rule takes charge of affairs from the start, appearing on the first track by Faith Evans "Good Life Remix" as a featured artist along with Vita and Cadillac Tah. His gravelly and rather scary voice blends well with the deeper than deep sound of the song.

As for Vita, she's the kind of woman any man would find it hard to resist flying away with for a single line of song.

On "Furious", Ja Rule and Vita come face to face (albeit with 01 helping in). Our great expectations are realised as the track turns out to be arguably the best here. The two meet again on "Put It On Me Remix" (helping them this time is Lil' Mo).

Getting back to "Furious" though, a drummer who knows his trade very well gives us a full thrill. We are warned of ensuing trouble when Ja Rule shouts "hey nigger" at the start. When Vita joins in singing "there's murder murder" and "we're screaming, we're yelling, we're living murder murder", we are at the point of no return.

Track 12 — "Rollin' (Urban Assault Vehicle)" — is set to become enormously popular for bringing together wonderfully, seemingly incompatible forces. Nu Metal rockers Limp Bizkit and some of the best names in rap: DMX, Redman and Method Man come up with a good song.

The CD comes to its end with the song Lenny Kravitz penned for Madonna in the early stages of the past decade, "Justify My Love". This time it is performed by Vita, featuring Ashanti. Its continuous melody was retained and the songs still snares the soul.

There's good music — including the superb melodies of Scarface on "Suicide" — and bad language. The CD's main strength lies in its many and yet very original artists.

Track listing:

1. Good Life Remix — Faith Evans (feat. Ja Rule, Vita and Caddilac Tah)
2. Pov City Anthem — Caddilac Tah
3. When a Man Does Wrong — Ashanti
4. Race Against Time Part 2 — Tank (feat. Ja Rule)
5. Furious — Ja Rule (feat. Vita and 01)
6. Take My Time Tonight — R. Kelly
7. Suicide — Scarface
8. The Prayer — Black-Child
9. Tudunn Tudunn Tudunn (Make U Jump) — Funkmaster Flex (feat. Noreaga)
10. Hustlin' — Fat Joe (feat. Armageddon)
11. Freestyle — Boo and Gotti
12. Rollin' (Urban Assault Vehicale) — Limp Bizkit (feat. DMX, Redman and Method Man)
13. Life Ain't a Game — Ja Rule
14. Cai Diseaz — Shade Sheist (feat. Nate Dogg)
15. Didn't I — Petey Pablo
16. Put It On Me Remix — Ja Rule (feat. Vita and Lil' Mo)
17. Justify My Love — Vita (feat. Ashanti)