The Streets had a track I picked up on an episode of WeFunk that I dig. I don't know the name of it though.

Was that story of Lady Sov having a fit and crying in Philadelphia true though?

I like The Streets, not exactly in a hip-hop way, but taken on its own terms.. especially "Don't Mug Yourself"

I love Lady Sov. I have no idea if she's going to go big or not but I think she can do a lot. Ian's story has absolutely no bearing on her star potential and neither does anyone's ability to freestyle.

A lot of freestyle and battle rap badasses fold in the studio. I'm sure you could make a much longer list than I of the hot battle rappers who pretty much tanked when they got signed.

I also think this whole "auditioning for Jay-Z' thing is blown out of proportion. I truly doubt he's calling many people in without already knowing exactly what he wants to do. I believe the audition stories serve two roles:
They intimidate artists at a point where they're about to negotiate a deal and they make for great copy.

I related that Lady Sov story cos so many people online made a big deal out of her "audience with Hov" and what it could mean for the UK hip hop/grime movement in the US and I got to hear the real deal about it and thought it was worth sharing. It wasn't so much her lack of freestyling ability that was striking to me but more my man's utter amazement that this nothing chick was taking a meeting with Hov in the first place and then ended up actually getting a record deal out of it. I don't see her going anywhere over here (and maybe even in England, frankly) but more power to her if she can prove me wrong.

Ian, that makes a lot of sense and I see where you're coming from. I've been keeping up with Lady Sov long enough to know that she's a lot more than a "nothing chick" but she is a teen from the projects and meeting Jay-Z must have been a trip for her.

I think she will continue to build an audience in that indie rock/hip hop crossover scene (not rap/rock but all those indie rockers that picked up on Dizzee Rascal), but there's a ceiling on where those people can go if they don't cross over to a more mainstream audience. Of course, that's true for any new sound.

I think she's got a lot of potential if she's marketed correctly but I question Def Jam's ability to do that. It'll be interesting to see how things play out.

i liked some of the earlier stuff i heard from sov, but her more recent stuff sounds increasingly commercial.

on top of that she was pretty much in every single print magazine at the beginning of the year, but the full-length has yet to materialize.

she definitely has the charisma to get over, whether or not she can freestyle off the dome, but it seems like musically she's all over the map right now and i think that has something to do with being too conscious of her various audiences alluded to in clyde's post.