Review: Public Warning / Lady Sovereign

"I can't dance,
and I really can't sing,
I can only do one thing,
and that's be Lady Sovereign"
-"Love Me or Hate Me"

Public Warning
Lady Sovereign
(Def Jam, 2006)

4 (out of 5)






Oi.

"Love Me or Hate Me"

2006 will likely be remembered by historians of music for the "MySpace effect" - ie the ability to have your sound discovered not through traditional means, but through a series of networks existing digitally. Lady Sovereign will make a nice poster child, seeing as how her brilliance may have gotten lost somewhere along the way, if not for all these channels for her to feed through. She has many strikes against her - she's a white female MC (unheard of in the US, unless you count Debbie Harry or Nellie McKay), spitting a British brand of hip hop virtually unknown to the average American eardrum. Yet, by her own unfaltering confidence, Sov built up a following uploading her music to the web, brushing off detractors while building up a solid group of followers. By the time single "Random" hit late last year, she was taking over hipster dance floors, with the likes of Pitchfork singing her praises. Subsequently, the self-proclaimed "biggest midget in the game" was invited to spit for Def Jam personnel including Jay-Z and Usher. The pioneering hip hop label was equally impressed and signed a deal; now, the results of that have hit the American airwaves, and incredibly - it may be one of the best returns to that classic Def Jam sound that we've heard in years.

Sov was probably an unlikely candidate to introduce grime to American audiences. Grime being a British form of hip hop built around unclean video game beats and tales of lower class street life. Dizze Rascal and the Streets each won over American critics with a series of brilliant records, but Rascal's rapid-fire intensity and the Streets' cockney slang didn't quite gel with American hip hop. On the otherhand, Public Warning retains Sov's English charm and Play Station beats, while also showcasing the influence of the old school American sound of Run-DMC and LL Cool J. She's not short on braggadocio, nor does she apologize for a tomboyish appearance. "So, J. Lo's got a body," she muses on "Random" before quipping, "you can't see mine cuz I wear my trousers baggy." Elsewhere, she channels the Streets' Mike Skinner for a play on British stereotypes ("My London") generated by Antiques Roadshow and all things Bridget Jones. She adds that instead of croquet, it's "PS2 all the way." Built around a simple guitar riff, "Summer Days" is one of those classic hip hop summer jams which reminisces about childhood.

And of course, Sov really just likes to party. And that's exactly what she's made - a brilliant party record that is drenched in creativity with uncompromising beats and slang. At its core, hip hop is most powerful when clever individuals speak honestly about the world as they see it. The record features no collaborations, giving Sov the room to carry each track solely on the strength of her verses. When Missy drops by on a remix of "Love Me or Hate Me," it's merely to lend even more credibility to a new kindred spirit. Hip hop ain't dead, Nas, it just has a new hero.