“Ain’t nobody out there making shit/Quite like me, quite like this,”
boasts Chicago MC Kid Sister on “Big N Bad” from her debut album,
Ultraviolet. That’s debatable. Quite a few people make shit like
this, and many more made it in hip-hop’s formative years: It’s known as
party rap. For some genre purists, the oft-delayed and
re-contextualized Ultraviolet will kindle fond memories of Monie
Love, Salt-N-Pepa and other femcee veterans, as Kid Sis sprays
Romper Room synth-lollipop club beats with squirts of lyrical
Cheez Whiz even mentor Kanye West would know to leave on the
cutting-room floor. Why? Largely because 2009 isn’t 1989, a time when
attitude, shamelessness and the ability to string together rhymes
— any old rhymes — were all a person needed to declare him
or herself an MC. Here, gleeful, middling ineptitude scuttles our
heroine’s regular-Jane bona fides, infectious personality and promising
singing voice. One thing’s for sure: These tracks will sound awesome
when real mixtape rappers spit on ’em. — Ray Cummings
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2009.
