PUBLIC WARNING - LADY SOVEREIGN
Like hip-pop countrywomen M.I.A. and Lily Allen, British tongue-twister Lady Sovereign has been flitting around the Internet for what seems like forever; this Def Jam debut is probably one of the longest-leaked albums of 2006. But even if you spend your days waist-deep in music blogs, experiencing her fully realized and largely insane electro-hip-pop as one piece will hardly dull its nutso thrills. Sovereign’s grime origins rip through the frenetic title track and “Blah Blah,” but she trends pop throughout the hooky “Gatheration,” a surfed-up “Hoodie” and the fantastic “Random” while still successfully pitching herself as a Heineken-swilling alternative to all things Danity Kane. Tracks like “Hoodie” sounded rawer and meatier before their major-label polish job. But love her or hate her, the “biggest midget in the game” has conjured up some of the year’s most accessible new sounds. Billboard
