Lady Sovereign
Album: Public Warning
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Label: Def Jam

"The biggest midget in the game" isn’t a boast one soon forgets — especially when it’s punctuated seconds later by a nasty "burp in your face." Meet Lady Sovereign, whose frenetic flow and Eminem-like sass have already won the diminutive twenty-year-old a dedicated following in her native U.K. Despite the sponsorship of label boss Jay-Z, Sov doesn’t have much in common with most stateside rappers. Her voice — which alternates between a toddler’s whine and an elderly croak — ensures that her strongest songs have a gloss of novelty, from the playfully rowdy "Random" ("Everybody get random!" she urges, before funning on American accents) to the fits-and-starts wordplay of "A Little Bit of Shhh." Despite some uneven striving-for-maturity moments (the fluffy nostalgia of "Those Were the Days"), Sov’s at her best when she doesn’t take herself too seriously, as on the wickedly self-deprecatory "Love Me or Hate Me."

"Public Warning" was recorded with Sov’s live band at The Roundhouse in Manchester on her UK tour in November 2005. Sov’s favourite track from the forthcoming album and the finale of her live show "Public Warning" features elements of drum and bass, rock and grime. A mix of tempos, "Public Warning" shows off Sov’s versatility to mix different styles in one stand-out track, as Sov puts it; it’s her "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Tracklisting:

Disc: 1
1. 9 to 5
2. Gatheration
3. Random
4. Public Warning
5. Love Me or Hate Me
6. My England
7. Tango
8. Little Bit of Shhh
9. Hoodie
10. Those Were the Days
11. Blah Blah
12. Fiddle with the Volume
13. Love Me or Hate Me [Remix] - Missy Elliott, Lady Sovereign
Disc: 2
1. Discotech
2. Find a New Way

No profanity, or inaproppriate remarks.