You know you've got it good — and bad — when a TV comic reaps laughs doing an impression of you as a bed-wetter. Craig David’s 2000 debut, Born to Do It, did it, selling 7 million copies. He became a big celebrity back home in England, where his sweet, fluttery voice enthralled fans, while his safe-as-milk image had a British comedian giving him a rubber sheet. With Slicker Than Your Average, David wants you to know he’s no wimp, gosh darn it. “Fast Cars” starts with the sound of broken glass and a car alarm, and ends as the boy next door speeds away from the scene. “They said I wasn’t from the streets,” he sneers on the title song. “Now they’re telling me ’bout my imagery, how I’m so squeaky-clean whenever I’m on TV.” He even recorded some of these songs in a makeshift studio on a tenement block in London, to add an extra atmosphere of menace. But what makes the stop-and-go, drum-thick music on this CD such a smooth ride, is that despite the pout, this is still the same old David. With a sky-high voice that flits like a hummingbird, he’s a supple stylist who may swagger but can’t help but lean to the sunny side of the street. “I never used to be a troublemaker; now I don’t even want to please the fans,” he fronts on “Rise and Fall.” But that troublemaking line comes in (ha!) a duet with Sting. David matches the old crooner moan for moan, while Der Stingle, the master of celebrity, counsels the upstart to keep a chill head and not get frantic.What’s new on Slicker Than Your Average is not edginess but David’s move away from underground two-step — sort of drum & bass gone glossy — toward a modern, mainstream R&B record. Slicker is full of Timbaland-style production, booty-call ballads and even Spanish guitars. Sometimes being real means revealing the marshmallow within.