NELLY'S THE PRIDE OF ST. LOUIS, AS "NUTTY PROFESSOR II" AND EVERCLEAR CRASH TOP TEN

Take a soulful, charismatic rapper from St. Louis, pair him with a smash single and you've got yourself a hip-hop album that has now defied second-week, third-week and fourth-week rap sales trends.

Nelly's album, "County Grammar" (Fo' Reel/Universal), which jumped 4-3 on this week's Top 50 album chart, is a bona fide smash.

"It may not be a debut this week, but the huge airplay picture has kept a major fire burning at retail," said Tony Bazemore of AEC One-Stop Group. Aren't you glad you're not Tony Bazemore or AEC One-Stop Group? Just asking.

Of course, it's not just Nelly giving retailers the appearance of having a personality. Def Soul/IDJ's "Nutty Professor II" soundtrack scored a solid #5 debut behind the single from little-known artist Janet Jackson. Naturally, there are strong expectations for spiked soundtrack sales when the film actually opens on July 28.

"There are some very strong numbers considering the film hasn't opened yet," said Bazemore, adding that no sequel could ever equal "Porky's Revenge."

DreamWorks' rap-rockers Papa Roach continued their chart assault, moving up another slot to #6, giving the label its biggest success story to date.

And lest we ignore the introspective, emotionally scarred, self-realized aging alt-rockers of America, we're thrilled to report that Capitol's Everclear posted an impressive #9 debut thanks to the angst-laden, pithy lyrics of Art Alexakis.

"Everclear really demonstrated just how strong a fan base they generated with the first album," said Bazemore, who plans to change his name to Bazzzzzzzzzzemore to better reflect his personality.

"We ain't talking about no Jew bastards, are we?" queried First Lady Hillary Clinton, demonstrating why she'll make an excellent representative of New York.