By Jodi Root
I’ve always been a sucker for catchy, upbeat hip hop infused dance rhymes—if a female led the action, even better. Girl power, right? Well maybe in some cases, but then again, maybe not. Last night, I definitely realized how old I am and that girl power may not necessarily be my bag after all. Back in ’06, Lady Sovereign dropped her Def Jam debut, Public Warning. With such dance happy beats like “9 to 5,” “Love Me or Hate Me” and “Hoodie,” I thought she was for sure the next big craze. I remember (albeit vaguely) catching Sov spit and grind at her last Metro appearance when I was a newcomer to the Windy City back in fall of 2007. I smiled, I bounced, I danced and kept leaping to catch a glimpse of the trademarked side-pony shawty drop her shit. I was pretty intoxicated—but I also had a blast.
Fast forward to 2009. It wasn’t until I caught a glimpse of Miss Sovereign in Austin this past SXSW, slamming cocktails to the front side of the Fader Fort stage that I remembered her. She had a new album? I did my homework, (thanks, Stereogum), and saw, yes, Sov was dropping her second US release in April, Jigsaw. The singles were catchy, although not of the same spunk and flair as her previous work, but I gave them chances and threw them on the Jodi soundtrack anyway. “I Got You Dancing” was a solid enough attempt, and even though she was really cutting it close with the barely acceptable/blasphemy of sampling the classic Cure hit “Close to Me” in “So Human,” I gave her the benefit of the doubt anyway. “Let’s be Mates” is kinda fun and the title track “Jigsaw” may be as cheesy as all get out, (“My heart is like a jigsaw puzzle, pick it up and fix it for me, Can you figure it out?”), but whatever tracks like “Bang Bang” and “I Got You Dancing” bring back classic Sov flavor and it’s a good enough time. Or at least so I thought.
I made it just in time for Miss Sovereign’s set which kicked off at 9:45, following sets from Chester French (who covered No Doubt’s “Hella Good,” whoa, whatever happened to that song?) and Chicago’s shortest MC, Hollywood Holt. Lady Sovereign took the stage following an entertaining DJ set from Chicago native, Annalyze. (I’m still having trouble getting over the fact that at 26 years old, I still have the words from Salt-N-Peppa’s “Shoop” memorized—kind of disturbing to think back to my 6th grade rollerblading days at recess, shouting out “I wanna know, how does it hang?” But Annalyze killed it!).
Sov strutted to the masses, grabbed the mic and instantly ripped its stand from its place and threw it carelessly to the side of the stage. Make your statement, girlfriend, you just don’t care! It was fun enough at first when she busted out an energetic rendition of “Let’s Be Mates,” shriek-growling her best feral panther impression in its chorus. When she jumped into “I Got You Dancing,” I’ll admit, I did start getting my groove to her beats—up in the photo pit, snapping away I appeared to be the only member of the media who was there by choice—actually enjoying myself. That is, until Miss Sovereign took to pouring her Heineken on my hair and camera. Umm, excuse me? We all know about her love for the sickly green bottled beer as pledged time and time again in her staple hit “Love Me or Hate Me,” but I thought the intention of swigging brews on stage was to actually drink it—not to douse the crowd with it. I let the first time pass and dried my cam off on my jacket. When Sov busted into the energetic crowd pleaser “Random,” she decided to treat me to my second shower—not any of the males in the photo pit, mind you, just yours truly. I’d had enough.
At this point I was going to suck it up, jot the notes from her set list and call it a night. Following “Random,” Sov almost redeemed herself by graciously giving props to Chicago, saying how much she “loves fucking playing here, the first place (she) played in America.” But this transitioned into what Sov referred to as the “cheesy paht of the show—I’m gonna get all pussy now,” in which she repeatedly giggled and said the word “pussy”. Ok. She played “Pennies,” from the new album, followed that up with a Metro Station cover, “Shake It,” which even as disgruntled as I was, still enjoyed with its bouncy synth-pop action. Next was “Jigsaw,” in which she thanked Chicago again and mentioned, “I’m trying out this singing thing—I kinda like it,” but then followed up, again, something about “sounding like a pussy.” Ok, we got it, you’re vulgar and edgy. OMG.
Nothing could beat the next joint she busted out—the popular single, “So Human.” My favorite part was when she forgot the words to her own first verse and tried to cover it up, sloshing her Heineken around some more, bleating “Leh Leh Leh La” prior to the chorus of “I’m so human, you’re so gay.” Ok. This is a wake-up call—why was I here again? At least my friend who wasn’t soaked in beer seemed to enjoy herself, but I learned a lesson last night. Either come severely intoxicated like the raver chick next to me, who had no qualms getting down to the remaining four songs played—(“Bang Bang,” “Love Me or Hate Me,” “Student Union”—which sounded with her accent like “shoot it, eat it,” and “Public Warning”), or just stay home next time and listen to the CD instead. For an artist that has released two full length albums, I was surprised (but not too disappointed in this case), that the entire length of Lady Sovereign’s set timed out at a whopping 50 minutes. She didn’t even play “Hoodie,” WTF.
If you’re into bratty English teenage girl rappers, who “can’t down ‘em like I used to,” then I guess you’d probably enjoy a Lady Sovereign show. Maybe I’m biased based on my complimentary skunk-ale showers, but I know I have now officially closed the chapter of my girl-grime days of Sovereign.
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