The first sign of this is the emergence of the new breed of hip-hop love men.

One of the most successful has been Keith Sweat, largely on the strength of "I Want Her," a delicious number with a big debt to Steve Arrington's nasal funk. The rest of Make It Last Forever is competent and diverse. Sweat traces his soul roots with a cover of the Dramatics' classic "In the Rain," as well as the title cut, which echoes Marvin Gaye's "After the Dance."

Even better than Sweat's "I Want Her" is Johnny Kemp's killer hit "Just Got Paid." Their similarity is no coincidence: both were put together by the gifted writer-producer Teddy Riley. Unfortunately, "Just Got Paid" is the only cut on Secrets of Flying that Riley produced, and the rest of the album is unremittingly earthbound.

The most balanced of these four albums is Tony Terry's Forever Yours, which has nonetheless sold the fewest copies, but don't blame "Lovey Dovey" or "She's Fly," the first singles. Produced by New York radio vet Ted Currier, the album elegantly combines rap's beats and scratches with mainstream R&B song forms. Terry, like Sweat, has strong ballads in him.

Ballads are also the big thing for the most promising singer of the four, Al B. Sure! Working in an edgy falsetto that he punctuates with little whoops and deadpan asides, Sure is pursuing the hard-soft formula invented by Oran "Juice" Jones on "The Rain." Jones, more into dissing than kissing, had the vision but not the pipes to back it up.

Look for Keith Sweat to move to the center, and hope that Tony Terry survives to find his market. And definitely keep tabs on producer Teddy Riley and Al B. Sure! (RS 535)

DAVITT SIGERSON