Hip Hop 101 for Baby Boomers
"Make Way For the S-O-V..."
Before I left Portland, Alison could not get the song Love Me Or Hate Me out of her head. While waiting for my U-Haul to be fixed, I bought her album (on sale for $11) at a Sam Goody in the Clackamas Town Center. I tried to listen to it on the way down but the cheapo headphones I bought to play it with were not up to the task of drowning out a U-Haul cruising down I-5. So let's take a listen now, why don't we:
Frankly, I don't love her or hate her. I'm going with my home boy at the top of this post. She's aiight. She avoids certain wack-traps and has a distinctive style which isn't all that unpleasant, but I don't know, she just doesn't seem necesary. Maybe I'm just still upset because I actually bought Princess Superstar's album:
I know, embarassing, right? But there was a time not so many years ago, that Princess was the Feminem. Like Lady Sov, Princess had a song about how she's not like Eminem or better than Eminem, I don't remember because it sucked so bad. Since that record, white female rappers have really had to bring the realness in order to get my attention.
What I like about Sovereign is that instead of just being white, punchliney, and female, she avoids the Feminem label by being British t'boot. The Americans have definitely come calling though. She's been picked up by Jay-Z and Def Jam and aparently they tried to hook her up with Pharell and the Neptunes but she wasn't having it. She's sticking to her English producers (some bloke called Medasyn) and the Garage sound she grew up with. The most compelling songs on her album are songs about England (My England) or English topics (Hoodie). I'm not even really sure what she's doing can be filed under "hip-hop". And I don't think she's sure either:
She says her next album is going to blow people away and I'm curious to hear it. But mild curiousity is really all I can muster for the biggest midget in the game.
Before I left Portland, Alison could not get the song Love Me Or Hate Me out of her head. While waiting for my U-Haul to be fixed, I bought her album (on sale for $11) at a Sam Goody in the Clackamas Town Center. I tried to listen to it on the way down but the cheapo headphones I bought to play it with were not up to the task of drowning out a U-Haul cruising down I-5. So let's take a listen now, why don't we:
Frankly, I don't love her or hate her. I'm going with my home boy at the top of this post. She's aiight. She avoids certain wack-traps and has a distinctive style which isn't all that unpleasant, but I don't know, she just doesn't seem necesary. Maybe I'm just still upset because I actually bought Princess Superstar's album:
I know, embarassing, right? But there was a time not so many years ago, that Princess was the Feminem. Like Lady Sov, Princess had a song about how she's not like Eminem or better than Eminem, I don't remember because it sucked so bad. Since that record, white female rappers have really had to bring the realness in order to get my attention.
What I like about Sovereign is that instead of just being white, punchliney, and female, she avoids the Feminem label by being British t'boot. The Americans have definitely come calling though. She's been picked up by Jay-Z and Def Jam and aparently they tried to hook her up with Pharell and the Neptunes but she wasn't having it. She's sticking to her English producers (some bloke called Medasyn) and the Garage sound she grew up with. The most compelling songs on her album are songs about England (My England) or English topics (Hoodie). I'm not even really sure what she's doing can be filed under "hip-hop". And I don't think she's sure either:
She says her next album is going to blow people away and I'm curious to hear it. But mild curiousity is really all I can muster for the biggest midget in the game.
posted by E at 10:06 PM
3 Comments:
I don't know what I really think about her. Her tracks are catchy, but she doesn't totally impress me. I'm probably just jealous.
that princess superstar vid is hilarious. was she being for real or was that a joke?
a sick, cruel, horrible joke. In my defence, the record cover is dope. Gatefold, old school. As Borat would say, very niiice!
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