Pint-size U.K. rapper making splash across Atlantic

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Lady Sovereign feels like an idiot. It's August 2005 and the U.K. hip-hop sensation (born Louise Harman) is standing in the New York office of Def Jam Records president Sean "Jay-Z" Carter.

Jay-Z wants to sign her to the label. But first he needs her to give an impromptu performance for the other executives in the room. In Sov's words: "He says, 'Can you spit me some lyrics a cappella?"'

The request is causing her all sorts of anxiety.

For starters, she's facing a tough crowd. Jay-Z would be an intimidating enough audience by himself, but he's just one of many music industry heavyweights in attendance. Island Def Jam Music Group chairman/CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid and Usher, one of Reid's most successful artists from his days at BMG, are there, too.

Then there's the matter of Sov's outfit. Hailing from London's Chalkhill Estates housing development, she's wearing a cartoonishly oversized shirt, and her hair is pulled into a side ponytail -- a look that most American audiences haven't seen since the days of Sporty Spice from the Spice Girls. It's her trademark garb, but she's suddenly feeling self-conscious in front of a group of men known almost as well for their style as for their musical talents.

And to top things off, she doesn't want to perform a cappella. She wants a beat to freestyle over.

Jay-Z gamely offers her a Kanye West beat. There's just one problem: She doesn't like it. They finally settle on a Ludacris beat.

The performance is so good that within an hour of leaving the meeting, Def Jam executives are on the phone offering her a contract. But looking back on that day now, more than a year later, the 20-year-old Sov winces at the thought of how out of place she felt. "I didn't know what was going on. I felt like a clown for hire," she says.

BREAKING THE MOLD

But being a fish out of water is something she's getting used to. To be sure, there's no one else quite like her on the Def Jam roster -- British, female and not particularly focused on American hip-hop.

Her U.S. fan base is rooted in the Internet-savvy indie rock community (she claims more than 56,000-plus friends and 1.6 million music listens through MySpace). During the past year, she has performed in front of festival crowds at Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bumbershoot, and graced the covers of tastemaker magazines like The Fader, Urb and ID.

And Sov is just as apt to listen to grime, jungle, drum 'n' bass or punk as she is Dirty South hip-hop. "I was more into hip-hop years ago," she admits. "I'm not saying I'm not into it now. But I don't listen to it as much as I used to."

No matter. Def Jam executives think they have a pop star on their hands with the pint-size artist Jay-Z refers to as "Mighty Mouse."

To be sure, there have been plenty of heavily hyped U.K. rap acts in recent years that haven't connected with U.S. audiences en masse -- the Streets, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A. and Ms. Dynamite among them.

But Lady Sovereign's full-length debut, "Public Warning," hits stores October 31, and she's already showing signs of broad appeal.

Verizon Wireless recently featured her and the lead single from the album, "Love Me or Hate Me," in a TV campaign promoting its new Chocolate music phone. The wacky video, in which the rapper annoys everybody in her neighborhood simply by being herself, is No. 1 on MTV's "TRL," and top 40 radio is starting to embrace the track.

Reuters/Billboard

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