Thug Life Army

The Lost Boyz, the Queens, N.Y.- based rap crew that brought us such smash singles as "Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimas and Benz," "Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless," "Music Makes Me High" and "Renee,"as well as two gold certified albums, 1996's ''Legal Drug Money'' and 1997's ''Love Peace And Nappiness'', are set to release ''Forever'' on May 31.

Inspiration struck Mr. Cheeks when he was looking through some photographs. As he flipped through some older shots, Cheeks came across a photo that showed him with the rest of the Lost Boyz crew that also included Freaky Tah, Spigg Nice and Pretty Lou. But since the photo had been taken, Freaky Tah had been murdered and Spigg Nice had been incarcerated. As Mr. Cheeks looked at the picture, he noticed that the photographer had written "Lost Boyz Forever" on the print. Mr. Cheeks now had the title of his upcoming Lost Boyz album.

"It was time for me to put some LB stuff out there," says Mr. Cheeks, the group's lead vocalist and creative force. "There were a lot of things that people haven''t heard from our crew. Before Spiggy went in, he did some joints that we wanted to put out. There were some joints that Tah was on and we didn''t get a chance to release them before, so we freshened them up, crispened them up and got them in the Lost Boyz tradition. We put out that street, party-banging stuff. Everyone was asking what was up with the next LB LP, so I said, ''Let's do it.''"

Keeping consistent with the Lost Boyz's best-known material, "We Ain''t Stoppin" will get the clubs jumping with its pulsating groove and memorable lyrics. "We''re party brothers so we thought we''d come back into the game like that," Mr. Cheeks says. "We Ain''t Stoppin," as well as the inspirational "Keep Ridin" and the focused "Grown Up & Sexy," were produced by Erick Sermon, one-half of the legendary rap duo EPMD and the platinum producer whose credits include Redman, Ja Rule and others. "I worked with Erick Sermon for a change in my music," Mr. Cheeks explains. He makes some funky, hot-ass tracks."

The rest of ''Lost Boyz Forever'' is equally satisfying. The crew reflects on its street background on the meditative "Outta State Money," uses its own brand of street slang on the gritty "Hard Workin," and schedules a rendezvous with a lovely lady on the smooth "My Way."

Now, with the impending release of ''Lost Boyz Forever'' the Lost Boyz's music is more important than ever. "We represent that lost society of cats that didn''t think that they could do it," Mr. Cheeks says. "It's always been that, but I lost my man with a violent death and my man Spigg got locked up.

Me and Lou are the last ones standing, but we''re still doing the LB thing. We''re still the LB family and we''re doing it musical and moviewise. It's LB Fam no matter what. We''re still here, still trendsetting, still holding things down and making hot music. Now, we''re coming back to the ring."

The Lost Boy are set to release ''Forever'' May 31,2005. The album will feature previously unreleased material and production by Erick Sermon.