3/5
Never underestimate a loudmouthed British midget. Self-proclaimed shorty Lady Sovereign wasn’t called ‘Mighty Mouse’ for nothing (by Jay-Z, no less). Her warrior-woman ‘tude counters her wee 5-foot-1-inch frame with a vengenance that Lily Allen’s virginal soprano never could.
‘Now, who are you/ To try to rule my world now?’ Sov raps in ‘Bang Bang,’ a territorial egofest that holds its own alongside some of hip-hop’s biggest prick anthems. And it is her world ‘mdash; from the elf-run record label all the way down to each gyrating pulse of bass and that somewhat eccentric personality.
Somewhat.
What begins as awesome techno-pop mashed with drunken rocker sass breaks off into a series of minor identity crises. Is she an educated hipster chick strutting downtown London, or the gritty back-alley rapper who’s getting all the shout-outs? Maybe she’s the downright disgusting self-objectifier in syrup-choked ‘Food Play.’ ‘
Not that it matters much. By ‘Bang Bang,’ Sovereign’s back to trotting in the well-worn footsteps of Missy Elliot ‘mdash; ‘oi-oi-oi-pelloi’ and that ‘bang bang’ sound.
By the time Jigsaw is halfway over, the undercooked insecurity in its title track and Sovereign’s attempts to be clever in ‘mdash; well, the entire album ‘mdash; are forgotten. But with bad-ass beats and hooks catchy enough to be played on repeat Ess-Oh-Veeee delivers, and the delivery ain’t bad ‘mdash; just not quite sovereign.