Def squad -- the hip-hop supergroup made up of Erick Sermon, Redman, and Keith Murray -- didn't embark on their debut album with delusions of modesty: ''Frontin' on us is like frontin' on God,'' sermonizes Sermon on one track. Actually, the Squad didn't prove entirely omnipotent; entering at No. 2, with 152,000 copies sold, El Nino was fronted by another album named for an ill-weather act of God: Armageddon, up three spots to No. 1 (and to 184,000 units, from last week's 112,000). Maxwell debuted at No. 3 with a more-than-embryonic 149,000-unit start. Also rep-resenting R&B on the sales chart is the def, not-so-dumb squad of hip-hoppers who signed up for the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack, which, in week 3, wags its way into the top 10.
POP ALBUMS
LAST WEEK WEEKS ON CHART
1 4 SOUNDTRACK Armageddon, Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax 2 2 -- DEF SQUAD El Nino, Def Jam 1 3 -- MAXWELL Embrya, Columbia 1 4 1 SOUNDTRACK City of Angels, Warner Sunset/Reprise 14 5 3 BRANDY Never S-A-Y Never, Atlantic 4 6 5 SOUNDTRACK Hope Floats, Capitol 7 7 2 MASTER P MP Da Last Don, No Limit/Priority 6 8 8 WILL SMITH Big Willie Style, Columbia 32 9 7 BACKSTREET BOYS Backstreet Boys, Jive 47 10 18 SOUNDTRACK Dr. Dolittle, Blackground/Atlantic 3
COUNTRY ALBUMS
1 1 SOUNDTRACK Hope Floats, Capitol 7 2 2 SHANIA TWAIN Come On Over, Mercury 35 3 3 GARTH BROOKS The Limited Series, Capitol 9 4 4 LEANN RIMES Sittin' on Top of the World, Curb 9 5 5 BROOKS & DUNN If You See Her, Arista Nashville 5 6 8 FAITH HILL Faith, Warner Bros. 11 7 6 REBA MCENTIRE If You See Him, MCA Nashville 5 8 7 GEORGE STRAIT One Step at a Time, MCA Nashville 11 9 11 DIXIE CHICKS Wide Open Spaces, Monument/Sony 23 10 9 GARTH BROOKS Sevens, Capitol 32
BLUES ALBUMS
1 1 KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND Trouble Is..., Revolution 39 2 2 B.B. KING Deuces Wild, MCA 35 3 3 JONNY LANG Lie to Me, A&M 75 4 4 BUDDY GUY Heavy Love, Silvertone 5 5 -- ETTA JAMES Life, Love & the Blues, Private/Windham Hill 1 6 5 JIMMIE VAUGHAN Out There, Epic 4 7 7 JOHNNIE TAYLOR Taylored to Please, Malaco 3 8 6 SOUNDTRACK Blues Brothers 2000, Universal 22 9 8 STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN & DOUBLE TROUBLE Live at Carnegie Hall, Epic 49 10 10 DELBERT MCCLINTON One of the Fortunate Few, Curb/Rising Tide 39 (C)1998 BPI COMMUNICATIONS INC./SOUNDSCAN INC. USED WITH PERMISSION FROM BILLBOARD, JULY 18, 1998.
