Lady Sovereign is a 5'1\ white female rapper from Britain who Jay-Z signed to Def Jam after asking her to give him one on-the-spot freestyle. Even if she could only be described by two of these traits, it would be enough to tantalize the British music press hype machine, and so the combination of all of these has made it so anyone with a remote interest in music has probably heard of ""the biggest midget in the game"" even if they have no idea what she sounds like.
Unlike most of the musicians the British press takes hold of and proclaims as the next coming of Christ, Lady Sovereign is the real deal. She is an incredibly talented, entertaining rapper who just happens to be short, female and British. And her full-length debut, Public Warning, follows through on the promising mAclange of hip-hop, 2-step, techno and dancehall she revealed on her Vertically Challenged EP from last year.
Public Warning begins with one of its strongest tracks, ""9 to 5."" This song is the perfect slacker anthem, finding Lady Sovereign dissing the establishment, professing her laziness and, most importantly, celebrating the joys of being laid-back and doing what you want when you want. The best thing about ""9 to 5""—and perhaps Lady Sov—is that it traverses familiar territory but still manages to be clever and incisive. A musician shit-talking society is as old as sound recording, and people complaining about pop star conformity is nothing new, but the S-O-V manages to do both of these things without ever sounding stale or forced.
""So my label would change my image / Oh shit I'm in FHM posing in a bikini / next to a Lamborghini"" is an amusing shot at pretty much every other female musician, and lines like ""I ain't no early birdy / Won't wake up till 12:30"" may not be complicated, but they get their point across loud and clear. Lady Sovereign is what she is—lazy, crude—because it suits her, and she's not going to change that because society expects her to in order to succeed.
""Random"" is one of the most exciting songs in recent memory. Its beat channels Missy Elliot's ""Pass That Dutch,"" giving the song an insistent, danceable rhythm that commands the body to move but never overwhelms Lady Sov's laid-back flow. Especially on this song, one can't help but thank the gods that the Neptunes didn't end up producing this album—the producer on board here, Medasyn, leaves things blessedly bare-bones. Lady Sov never sounds like she's trying to get on the radio, she just sounds like she wants you to dance.
""Love Me or Hate Me"" is the song that is breaking S-O-V into the U.S.A., and deservedly so, as it sums up everything so appealing about this diminutive MC: She doesn't give a shit, she doesn't waste words telling you this and her rapping is a mind-bending combination of street slurring and child-like playground taunts. Not to mention her lyrics rock. ""Love me or hate me it's still an obsession / Love or me hate me that is the question / If you love me then THANK YOU! / If you hate me then FUCK YOU!"" is the most perfectly phrased chorus of any pop song released this year—it's awe-inspiringly simple and effective, and way too much fun to sing along with.
There are no real missteps on this record, though two of the 13 tracks do stand out as notably weaker than the rest. ""Those Were the Days"" is too musically wistful to fit on Public Warning, and really, what right does a 20-year-old have to mourn the passing of the good ole days? The remix of ""Love Me or Hate Me"" that ends the record features Missy Elliot but it's completely unnecessary—it's obvious it is only here to entice American buyers. Another song from her Vertically Challenged EP, such as ""Ch Ching,"" would have been a far more fitting end to the album.
But these are minor quibbles when compared to what we have here: a female musician who has no interest in being our sex symbol but a clear interest in being herself. A rapper who convinces us she is cool not by telling us how much money she has but by touting her individuality. Not to mention, she is an artist whose debut is one of the best, most entertaining albums released this year. Thank you, Jay-Z, for bringing this 5'1"" white girl's rapping to America, and thank you, Lady Sovereign, for existing.
