Lady Sovereign - Public Warning

One of the very few...

Wow, what a great CD. I'm generally not a fan of rap, save for a few artists, and Lady Sovereign is one of them.

This is one of the very few discs I can put on shuffle and not have to skip any songs. I actually received the MP3s from a friend and liked it so much I went out and bought the CD. March 5, 2008

fun and energetic

I caught Lady Sovereign as an opening act for Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape tour. This little midget-girl (actually, she's 22) hops out onto the stage and starts yelling incomprehensible working-class British slang at the audience and I thought, "Oh boy, what was Gwen thinking?" but then she launched right into her act and I was blown away. This chick has so much energy and smarts. Her rhymes are super fresh and fun and it's very energetic. It took me several listens before I was able to decipher most of the lyrics, but it's well worth the effort. The Missy Elliot remix of "Love me or Hate Me" is definitely a highlight on the album. I love all the tracks, although some of the subject matter is a little immature for me (I'm 36)--like what she did as a kid playing around the projects, and a tribute song to house parties. October 4, 2007

3-1/2 stars -- Good but she could use a hook-up

Very few white female rappers seem to be able to make it in the game, possibly because they either try too hard (Sarai) or they don't try hard enough (Northern State). All arguments aside, I remember first reading about Lady Sovereign in the 2005 Love/Hate issue of XXL, and I didn't really know who she was except that she was on Def Jam. I didn't get to hear her Vertically Challenged EP, but I have to say that I enjoy her full-length debut, Public Warning.

Be advised, though: Lady Sov's style isn't best classified as "standard" rap. She's actually an English grime artist, which IS still rap, but it isn't structured the same way as rap in the States is. Fortunately, her music is more accessible than, say, Dizzee Rascal's; and although her thick accent is wholly evident within her rhymes, it's easier to stand than, say, the Streets'. Notable tracks include "9 to 5", "Fiddle with the Volume" and, of course, "Love Me or Hate Me".

There is also a necessary end-of-album remix-of-the-first-single featuring Missy Elliott, and although it's good, it seems like Missy just changed her style to suit Sov's (but Missy changes her style on every song she does anyway, so maybe that's not that big of a deal). But the only real problem with the album is that there are a lot of otherwise great songs that have questionable choruses, especially "Blah Blah Blah". "Random" seems like a bad attempt to introduce new slang, and the chorus to "Tango" doesn't make any sense. But there are still enough good moments to qualify Lady Sovereign as a force not to be reckoned with, so pick Public Warning up.

Anthony Rupert July 31, 2007

ugh

I liked the single, so got the CD. Oops. June 14, 2007

unbelievable

I just went to the Gwen stefani and akon concert with sov opening. all i can say is that being a huge fan of gwen and really enjoying akon's work i really wasn't thrilled to see that sov was opening beings that i had never really heard any of her music, but by the end of her show i knew there was no way akon nor gwen had a chance of grabbing my attention as much as sov. if you get a chance see her live you won't regret it. June 12, 2007

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