As young hip-hop fans would tell you, music some times has to be rough to be cool. Performers who sound tough can become huge sensations, even if they're not the best singers.

That ex plains the magic of Brazilian singer Se Jorge who brings his deep voice and soulful delivery to Miami for a Sept. 8 concert at I/O Lounge, 30 ME 14th St.

In Jorge, concert-goers will find a singer whose music fuses light and lively samba with streetwise sensibility and a Parisian touch. He is on a North American tour to promote his new album Cru (Raw), to be released Sept. on Wrasse Records.

Recorded in France, the

CD is brilliant in its simplicity and in its mix of the edgy and elegant. Accompanied largely by acoustic guitar and cavaquinho, percussion and some electronic and urban beats, Jorge delivers playful but thoughtful re cording that is wonderfully devoid of excess technical effects.

Seu Jorge Mario da Silva, he grew up in a favela, or slum, outside of Rio de Janeiro. He repaired tires to help support his family and taught himself to play guitar.

In the mid-1990s Jorge formed a pop-samba group called Farofa Carioca. He later began a solo career with Samba Esporte Fino, an al bum co-produced by Beastie Boys collaborator Mario Caldato that won critical ac claim.

Jorge also has worked in theater, playing Knockout Ted in City of God, a 2003 film that focused international attention on the poverty and violence of Brazil's favelas. He also performed bare- bones samba versions of David Bowie's 1970s hits in the 2005 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

The singer went to France to record his new solo al bum, produced by Gringo da Parada. The recording is largely driven by Jorge's voice, but he is expertly ac companied by musicians on acoustic guitar and cavaquinho, percussion. He adds some electronic elements and urban beats, but does not rely on them.

Jorge shows his versatility on the CD, singing up-tempo numbers and ballads and varying moods and themes. The song Mania de Peitao is a lively number in which he sings against breast implants. On Eu sou Favela (I am, he turns to political commentary, exploring the problems of poverty in his homeland. He also sings in English on 't, song that implores a lover not to leave his embrace.

At times gentle, at others raspy, Jorge's voice comes across as so human. It and his varied repertoire offer refreshing break from the consumer-driven products of the record industry.

On stage, Jorge is an exquisite performer.

Opening the show will be the Miami rock-steady and alternative Latin rock group Kayakman, fronted by Tato Vega.

The show starts at 10 p.m. Tickets, $ 18 in advance and $20 at the door, are available through www.southflorida-jams.com or 800-594-8499 or www.rhythmfoundation.com or 305-672-5202.