LOS ANGELES -- Rapper Ole' Hungry Joe's hard hitting new album, Livin' in the bowl this morning is sweeping up the charts. Why is this newcomer so immediately popular?
    "I rap about what I know," said Joe, whose real name is Herman Page, "which is basically eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom." He says his music connects with fans who identify with his need to consume food to survive.
    "Rappers always addressed the base of the pyramid of needs," said Samantha Rethoes of the Yale Center for Popular Culture. "Rapping about food and shelter is only a natural direction for this art form to take."
    Industry insiders are citing the artist's exceptional talent to explain his success. "Not only can he get up and feed himself, he can rap about it later," said Wilson Brown, publisher of Hip Hop rag Urban Magazine. "I wish every rap music artist was as capable as Hungry Joe."
    I gotta get the spoon/Bring to my face, bitch rapped Joe in his recent performance at the Grammy Awards with Elton John.