Okay, another review of some shit that probably about 0.2% of you rap nerds are actually up on – Lady Sovereign, with Vertically Challenged.

So I’ve been hearing Lady Sov’s (if you can’t spell “sovereign” it’s perfectly acceptable to call her that) name thrown around for a minute now. I guess she was on that Run the Road compilation that Chester Copperpot was making fun of and that I’ve still never heard. Anyway she’s part of this “grime” shit that all those funny-talking British kids are listening to nowadays. I’m into the shit so once I got the CD, I actually bothered to listen to it, unlike all those fucking terrible demos I seem to get nowadays.

Moving on. Review is after the jump.

1. Random.
This song is pretty good. Pretty good as in not amazing. The funny part about this song is when she starts copying Nelly Chingy (who is a terrible person, by the way, to imitate, even in jest), saying “right thurr” and shit like that. Then she’s all like “Well I’m right thurr, (something unintelligible), right there / Right hurr, nah, right here / Now get off of your churr, I mean chair”. I find this funny, of course, because to me, she’s pronouncing it wrong the entire time. Fucking England.

Ch Ching – Cheque 1-2 Remix.
This song is sort of cute. It’s good.

Fiddle With the Volume
Whatever. Skiptrack.

Random – Menta Remix feat. Riko
Okay, here’s where the album actually starts for me. This beat is fucking bananas to me. I don’t know who the fuck Menta is, but he gets an A+ from me for this one. This song is essentially the same as the first track, except 1) I can actually get to the end of this one without getting bored, and 2) the guest rap from Riko, who is rapping on the fucking phone.

In jail.

I mean jesus fucking christ, how much more gutter can you get than having a guest rap phoned in from somebody on lockdown? And the dude has bars too. Shit is hot. At first I was a little unsure as to how having some lo-fi’ed lyrics would affect this track’s dancefloor appeal, but on 10th listen it just makes the track that much more insane.

A Little Bit of Shhh
I kind of wish they would continue the melody line that they start up with the bassline in the hook. For those of you who like melodic basslines through, this is your shit on this album. I can’t remember much from the lyrics but the production is pretty grimy. Can anybody explain why the girls are screaming about pianos?

The Battle feat Frost P, Zuz Rock, & Shystie
This thing was touted as some “battle of the sexes”, but unfortunately the boys win on this one for me because I couldn’t be arsed to actually sit through until Sov got on. Shystie is probably worth checking out on her own though. Marginal skiptrack.

A Little Bit of Shhh – Smallstars Remix by Adrock
You read that right, it’s another version of track 5. This CD is actually only like 5 tracks, which including remixes is 8. I’m not sure why this isn’t just an EP.

But anyway, yeah this is Adrock of the Beastie Boys on production. This is right up there with the Random remix. Shit is pretty fucking wild. It’s not miles better than the original as is the case with Random, but it’s good. Funny, too, because I distinctly remember dumbing out to this in my car but now that I have it on my regular system it just isn’t quite as hot.

Fiddle With the Volume – Ghislain Poirier Remix
Ghiza_what_?

Grime meets dancehall. Certainly better than the original.

Final Verdict.
There’s a few joints on this – namely, the Random Remix, A Little Bit of Shhh (both versions) , and actually that’s about it.

This is a good but short record, but at the end of the day I think I still might rather listen to M.I.A. And I swear I’ve heard better shit of hers out there on teh_intarwebbe somewhere. Weird that they didn’t include it on this album. Still, though, it’s definitely worth a listen.

http://www.ladysovereign.com/
http://chocolateindustries.com/