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LADY SOVEREIGN
Public Warning Def Jam ***

Louise Harman is the self-professed "biggest midget in the game", the London grime kid who caught the ears of Def Jam prez Jay-Z and persuaded him she could be the first UK MC to turn mainstream US audiences on. Certainly there's no way you could slate her flow or technique on Public Warning, a debut album that trampolines to your attention on the back of some confident, swaggering wordplay and tough, steely sounds. Sure, there are moments when Sov has a touch of the Mike Skinners (most notably on the sharply observed My England), but she also has the wit and wisdom to realise that this kind of geezer schtick is already a beaten docket and it's better to use such gestures as background flourishes for the catchy 9 to 5 or the rousing Gatheration. Yet for all the antagonistic urban ire she has on tap, it's hard to see the Yanks being quite ready yet to swap their own rapping heroines for Sov's unpredictable, unpolished bravado. www.defjam.com