Lady Sovereign

Jigsaw (Midget)

By Dakota Kim
Published: June 9th, 2009 | 7:00am

Jigsaw, Lady Sovereign's third full-length, finds her in an embattled position both sonically and professionally. Recently dropped from Def Jam Records, Sovereign released Jigsaw on her own Midget Records, and the departure from her previous work is drastic.

The album scores as many misses as hits, but the hits are worthy of individual iTunes downloads. Among the clutter are the rhythmically schizophrenic, rave-sampling opener, "Let's Be Mates" (a bonding call from one weirdo to another); saucy strutter “Bang Bang”; the Cure-cribbing, New Wave easy listener, "So Human"; and the R&B ode to Cibo Matto between the sheets, “Food Play” — which is completed by a molasses-voiced baritone voiceover and hysterically sexy come-ons.

The misses include "I Got You Dancing...," with its mainstream, radio-ready refrain; "Guitar," with its lame duck straight rhymes and tuneless singing that seems to be a joke Sov is playing on herself; "Student Union," the closest thing to a ska-tinged rock romp that ends up being as hackneyed as the university snobs it attempts to lacerate; and "I Got the Goods!!" an unconvincing monotone boast set to an uninspiring tribal beat. Electro and techno have their place in grime raps, but listeners may wonder if the musical experimentation has more to do with beatmaking partner Medasyn’s current interests than Sov’s directional desires. Why fix it if it ain’t broken?

Frequently, Sov's affectation of high-pitched squeak rap is ironic and apt, and at other times overbearing. Strangest about Jigsaw is the change in tone from her last album, Public Warning (Def Jam); the fierce grime rapper has always fluctuated between singing and rapping, but she sings throughout Jigsaw, leaving the dirty grime fan craving more doses of hard rhymes. The album as a whole has a tone of depression and vulnerability from seeming hard times, highlighted on “So Human” and the title track, and is proudly emo at times. It’s good to see Sov's strength in allowing herself to be vulnerable — like on “Jigsaw," a touching love song about personal struggle — but Sov is at her best when she’s tough yet silly, using the firepower of her fiercely mocking chatterbox against those who beat her down.

All in all, the First Lady Of Grime still charms with her infectious, underdog cheekiness, anti-classist self-confidence (“I’m an educated example of intelligence,” the high school dropout and graduate of the school of hard knocks boasts on “So Human”), verbal skills, and feminist attitude. “I’m still in the game, still changin',” she raps in “Pennies," verbalizing how Jigsaw may be a sonic detour, but the next album will hopefully show a more stable, settled Sov, with strengthened raps that shine through without overproduced beats

—