Success has dropped on Marky Mark

If he were a businessman instead of a muscle-bound street kidfrom Boston, you'd think Marky Mark had a marketing plan behind hiscurrent success.

Life has not been easy for white rappers since the meltdown ofVanilla Ice, who went from No. 1 album to "Circus of the Stars" inless than a year. And having a brother in New Kids on the Block whoproduced Marky Mark's debut album was another barricade to streetcredibility.

Yet Marky Mark Wahlberg's resume has the enviable entry ofhaving been in New Kids in its earliest incarnation and being hipenough to quit.

Musically, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch have stayed afloat byusing a strong soul singer, Loletta Holoway, in their first single,"Good Vibrations," and tried and true samples in subsequent hits:"Wildside" borrowed Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" samplepreviously used by A Tribe Called Quest (on "Can I Kick It?"), and"I Need Money" used part of the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money,"which everybody seemed to use last year, including Queen Latifah onthe "New Jack City" soundtrack.

But the key to Marky Mark's lasting appeal might be his penchantfor showing his shorts.

Let other rappers talk about dropping the beat; Marky's made hismark by dropping his pants to reveal his skivvies - in videos oronstage.

It's only the latest and least subtle development in popularentertainment since Elvis Presley wagged his pelvis on national TV.

Certainly it's not the first time in pop music that underwearhas been brought to the forefront by our esteemed entertainers.Madonna has practically made a career out of lounging around inlingerie.

Wearing boxers high and jeans low is a hip hop trend that allowsyour pals to see the colorful fabric you paid $12 for under thetrousers. Luther Campbell, back when he was known as LukeSkyywalker, showed this style to the extreme on the cover of the 2Live Crew "Banned in the U.S.A." album. At the time, the album'slyrics were more of an issue.

Just as rappers continue to steal the '70s funk sounds of GeorgeClinton's Parliament-Funkadelic bands, so perhaps are they stealinghis fashion ideas.

Bootsy Collins, bassist for Clinton, made his name with astar-shaped guitar and the huge diapers he'd wear onstage.

Marky Mark has bettered all of the above B.V.D.-bearers,however, by not only nonchalantly wearing them onstage but actuallygoing through the striptease by dropping his drawers to show theunfashionable white jockeys.

In the 1971 Woody Allen movie "Bananas," one of the edicts of arevolutionary turned dictator is that everyone wear their underwearon the outside of their clothing.

In such a world, Marky Mark would be minister of music.