CORPORATE LINE: With early airplay blowing up across the country in advance of yesterday’s official impact at Top 40, it sounds like radio definitely loves Def Jam recording artist Lady Sovereign’s “Love Me Or Hate Me,” the first U.S. single from PUBLIC WARNING, the pint-sized 20-year-old’s debut album.
A native of North London’s notoriously cut-throat Chalkhill Estates, a rough trade housing development just blocks away from the no-man’s-land near Wembley Stadium, Lady Sovereign (nee Louise Harman) was a teen school dropout when she hooked up with the vital East London grime scene. Adopting the punk rock DIY ethic, her knack for self-promotion soon proved as effective as her mic skills. She posted her rhymes – including “Random” and “Ch-Ching” – on facepix.com (an early version of MySpace) and the Internet carried them around the world. She still personally manages her own page on MySpace, communicating directly with her 56,000-plus friends, who have logged some 1.6 million music listens.
THE GOOD:
“9 to 5” –Lady Sovereign may not want to be compared to Eminem, but she needs to recognize that it isn’t a bad thing. The main reason to compare the two isn’t because they are white—it’s because both can lay a rhyme with a hook that is Top 40 gold.
“Public Warning” – Sov gets on pace with a mix of nursery rhymes and a hyper lyrical barrage. Her tongue never gets twisted even when we can’t keep up.
“My England” – Sov gets down on the English stereotype. Life isn’t all squeaky clean and Sov wants us to know they aren’t all perfect drinking Chardonney and acting like Bridget Jones.
THE AVERAGE:
“Random” – Sov gets nasty and as fun as it can be to hear her get foul its not necessary or as interesting as it sounds.
“Love Me Or Hate Me” – You don’t want to mess with Lady Sov that’s for sure. It’s not as simple as love or hate because this is somewhere closer to love than hate just not all the way.
THE BAD:
Nothing.
FRANKLY: Lady Sovereign isn’t afraid to soften the edges or to cut everything to shreds. Public Warning is an introduction to the female M.C. that America hasn’t been able to produce. Most American female M.C.’s rap about nonsense like money, bling, and other nonsense so it’s rare to find a female that sounds strong enough to take on a male. Don’t front just because she’s a femme—Lady Sovereign isn’t afraid to battle.
+ CC Morris
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