Holiday Gift Guide : Calendar’s little helpers offer suggestions in pop, jazz, holiday, family and classical music, plus videos, computer games and books. (Good news: They’re easy to wrap.) : POP MUSIC

* * * 1/2 XSCAPE, “Off the Hook,” So So Def. Runs the gamut from B-Girl toughness to Southern homegirl sweetness--and both stances are equally effective. Xscape manages to make softness not look like a liability.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (f a ir), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).