The SOV

I like Lady Sovereign. I caught her show earlier this summer at the Intonation festival and was digging on her pretty, pretty, pretty hard. Now, its possible that what perked my ears at the show was the raw acoustic principle that her recorded background track had a crisper percussion sound than the live mic'd trio of drumsets that the Boredoms had on stage the set before. So it was either the better sound fidelity, or that nasty grime stank was gettin all up in my business.
Seriously, this sassy little cutie-pie from the mean streets of Northwest London has got a good thing going. And damn, shes only 19. I think maybe her appeal comes from a combination of the fact that she is a very unique MC and that f-f-f-fresh grime sound setting her up. That UK delivery sounds awfully refreshing to this listener's musical pallette, and she has this paradoxical persona going on that gives her music a unique energy. You can tell she grew up listening to mainstream hip-hop, with its larger than life egos and fuck-you stance. But at the same time you can't escape a definite feminine mousiness about her, which, when set up against her hip-hop ego, provides a juxtapositon that gives a palpable humility and honesty to the music that you don't find in a lot of hip-hop (at least mainstream hip-hop). Or, I'm just a benevolent sexist.
Oh, but whats the deal with her song on the Verizon commercial? Granted, its a hip fuckin commercial, but shes got her shit on a cell phone ad? I reallyreallyreally hope her record deal with Jay-Z and Def Jam isn't a sell out. I really hope it, cuz shes fierce.