Hear & Now

G FLATTENED
Lite-jazz king Kenny G has long been a whipping boy for music critics, and even his colleagues have started getting their licks in too. Some months back, we reported on guitarist Pat Metheny's online denouncement of G for overdubbing his sax playing on the Louis Armstrong classic ''What a Wonderful World.'' Now, another guitar hero, cult fave Richard Thompson, has begun playing a droll ditty called ''I Agree With Pat Metheny'' — which includes the lyric ''Kenny's talent is quite teeny'' — in concert. What's next — the Allman Brothers Band doing ''(Tie Kenny G to the) Whipping Post''?

E MALES
Memo to hip-hop party planners: Don't invite Eminem and Everlast to the same event. In the time-honored rap tradition, the two are viciously dissing each other in song. Everlast cast the first stone with his guest rap on a remix of Dilated Peoples' ''Ear Drums Pop,'' which included lyrics many think are about Eminem: ''I'll buck a .380 on ones that act shady.../Lift up your skirt and expose your panties for the world to see.'' Now Eminem's responded with ''I Remember (Dedication to Whitey Ford),'' a scathing attack on his rival in which he calls ''Miss Everlast'' a ''d---less piece of s---.'' The song (the B-side of ''S--- on You,'' an unreleased promo single from the shady one's side project, D-12) also addresses Everlast's '98 heart attack: ''I just wish the cardiac woulda murdered you.'' Everlast declines to comment on the latest dis, but a rep says he's promised an ''answer record.'' Muses Dilated Peoples rapper and Everlast buddy Evidence: ''For Eminem's sake, I hope there's never a physical confrontation. Everlast is a big guy.''