LL Cool J may see himself as "something like a phenomenon," but fellow rappers Nas, Foxy Brown and AZ, otherwise known as the Firm, joined together this week to knock their peer -- last week's highest debuter -- clear out of the top 10.

The Billboard charts this week were both kind and cruel to the world of rap. SoundScan reports that all-star rap group the Firm sold 147,000 copies of The Album last week, which was more than enough to dislodge adolescent country prodigy LeAnn Rimes' You Light Up My Life from the top spot. Master P also had strong sales this week, with Ghetto D selling 72,000 copies and reappearing in the top 10 at #9.

On the opposite side of the rap coin, LL Cool J's Phenomenon took a nose dive from #7 to #17, while rap veterans Salt-N-Pepa saw their Brand New enter the charts at a disappointing #37.

The full title of the debut from the Firm, produced by Dr. Dre and the Trackmasters, had to be extended to read Nas Escobar, Foxy Brown, A-Z and Nature Present The Firm, The Album after Dre's label, Aftermath, was threatened with a copyright suit from the Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers-led '80s band of the same name.

Green Day's Nimrod also took a mighty tumble this week, dropping from #10 to #25, while fellow punk trio Everclear's So Much For The Afterglow dropped from #49 to #55.

It wasn't all bad on the alt-rock scene, however. Chumbawamba's Tubthumper continued its climb toward the top, taking a mighty leap to #15 from #21 on sales of 51,000.

"The message is, get drunk all the time," quipped Boff, of Chumbawamba's popular punk-dance party sound during a recent Sonicnet chat in New York. But can a band with album titles such as Pictures Of Starving Children Sell Records possibly offer a musical message with enough bite to break the top 10? Certainly, Boff, speaking for the former outwardly political punk collective said, would like to think so. "Well... basically the message is... mainly that pop culture can have intelligent, radical ideas," he said.

Also on the modern rock tip, the youth-oriented soundtracks to A Life Less Ordinary, featuring new and rare songs from Beck, Sneaker Pimps, R.E.M. and Prodigy and I Know What You Did Last Summer, with songs from Kula Shaker and L7, both saw substantial movement upward from their low charting debuts last week, landing at #102 and #125 respectively.

Blur's self-titled latest release received new life as well, jumping from #199 to #165.

The rest of the top 10 broke down as follows: Fleetwood Mac (#3), Mariah Carey (#4), Janet Jackson (#5), Soul Food soundtrack (#6), Boyz II Men (#7), Aqua (#8) and Jewel (#10). [Wed., Oct. 29, 1997, 6:30 p.m. PDT]