A BLACK-TY AFFAIR

JUST ABOUT every artist has an alter ego, but Tyrese, who headlines the aptly titled "VH1 Soul Presents the Alter Ego Tour," stopping here tonight, has found a bold way of letting his other side show.

He's dedicated an entire album to "Black-Ty," the crooner's hard-rapping other half. His double CD "Alter Ego" includes his fourth R&B release, as well as his debut as emcee "Black-Ty."

The former Gap and Tommy Hilfiger model said he knows his fan base is made up mostly of women, but that many women have a significant other. The Black-Ty disc is for them.

"My main following is women, and every woman has a boyfriend, a baby daddy, a husband," Tyrese said. "The women want the R&B disc. They will say, 'I love him singing,' but the boyfriend will love the hip-hop side."

And rap isn't new to the 28-year-old Los Angeles native. "I used to rap in a group long before I started singing," he told the Daily News. "And if you go back to the first single I released, called 'Nobody Else,' and the second single, 'Sweet Lady,' I was rapping at the end of those singles."

Tyrese recalled that he'd initially sought out Busta Rhymes to rap on those cuts. When Bust couldn't do it, Tyrese decided to handle the rhyming chores.

That gambit paid off; "Nobody Else" was well received, and "Sweet Lady" went gold.

Those songs helped propel his 1998 self-titled debut. From there, he released "2000 Watts" in 2001, followed the next year by "I Wanna Go There."

"Alter Ego" was released in December and is still on the Billboard charts, though it hasn't gone gold yet. It topped out at No. 4 on the R&B/hip-hop list and reached the 23rd spot on the Top 200.

Tyrese pretty much delivers as expected on the R&B disc. It has soulful ballads - including the ode to monogamy, "One" - and appearances by R. Kelly, Lil' John, Michael Cox and Tony Dixon.

But the Black-Ty side could cause a commotion.

Tyrese may shock listeners with the heavy-rhyming style of his alter ego and the blunt language and adult themes on songs like "Get Low." But Black-Ty delivers, holding his own against cameos by Method Man, Snoop Dogg, Manny Fresh and a handful of others.

Was releasing a dual disc like this a wise decision? Tyrese believes so.

"The thing is this, and unfortunately, it's the truth: Everybody is kind of used to being cursed at on record," said Tyrese. "At the end of the day, I had to have an alter ego, because I wouldn't want to put Black-Ty on the same disc as Tyrese. So I kind of masterminded the whole thing. Black-Ty was another outlet."

Even his Website (www.tyrese.com) has separate links to its Black-Ty and Tyrese sides.

Tyrese is student enough of hip-hop culture to know that he had to bring his entire skill-set to delivering an acceptable album, given that he is more well-known for his smoother side. He said he felt up to the challenge.

"With the state of hip-hop right now, it was a direct invite" to release this album, Tyrese said. "I didn't want to come in and make things worse. I want to contribute to what I thought hip-hop was - about cats who can get on the mike and know how to tell a story."

Tyrese is surprised that the masses are not more aware of his rhyming. His latest mixtape, "Ghetto Royalty," got more than 450,000 downloads, according to allhiphop.com, and his official Web site contains remixes with the likes of Jay-Z, among others.

"I'm more emcee than singer," he offered.

And actor, too.

He's been in a number of films - such as "Waist Deep," "Annapolis," "2 Fast 2 Furious," "Four Brothers" and "Baby Boy" - and will have a significant role in one of the summer blockbuster season's anticipated films, "Transformers," due out July 4th.

Tyrese said he gets more film offers than he can accept these days. "I can't do every [script] that comes across my desk. I'm heading one direction, and I do have something in mind. I'm not taking any [garbage] roles." *

"VH1 Soul Presents the Alter Ego Tour," featuring Tyrese, Luke & Q, Stixx and Black Buddafly, TLA, 334 South St., 8 tonight, $30, 215-922-1011, www.livenation.com.