Lady Sovereign
November 14, 2006
Lady Sovereign is the “biggest midget in the game” and has quite a large mouth for her proportions.
The caucasian female emcee hails from the grimy streets of Northwest London. Louise Harman originally took her island by storm performing with The Streets and Basement Jaxx, and Jay-Z signed Harman to his very own Def-Jam label after an audition.
With a debut album titled “Public Warning” Lady Sovereign performed at this year’s Lollapalooza festival and conquered the number one spot on MTV’s TRL. This contradiction of alternative and mainstream music exposure is not surprising due considering the album flows between the two categories.
All 13 tracks — including a remix of the single “Love Me or Hate Me” featuring Missy Elliott — are under the four-minute mark. At times the rhyming mechanics of the MC sound a bit rushed and not totally developed. Overall lyrics are humorously written around a topic.
“My England” is a basic lesson about her home country’s prime minister and not-so-posh lifestyles. Drum rolls, horse noises and horns form the backbeat.
“Tango” calls out all the people who are not satisfied with their natural skin tone. Lady Sovereign refers to an orange individual as a pumpkin, oompa loompa and the Vicar of Dibley. “Or on your English breakfast, place her next to the bacon/ she could be the beans.”
Musically, “Public Warning” features traditional beats, more experimental ones and some of the beats are better than others. Die-hard rap fans should make note that Lady Sovereign’s content is not dirty and gangta-esque in any degree. No one dies and bling is not flaunted to its glistening power-status potential. The lack of corrupt societal complaints opens the doors for Viacom to market an alternative act into a mainstream product.
Lady Sovereign does not seem concerned as of now.