Well now, this is a surprise. This album isn’t just good, it’s fantastic.
Lady Daisey is a Brooklyn girl billed as a hip-hopper–and a member of the Rawkus 50, but her music is far more Jill Scott than Lil’ Kim, and more Macy Gray than Nicki Minaj. Yeah, she kinda raps on “Day Old Bread,” but with the quick-and-light tinkering in the background and the harmony on the hook, I’m hearing the Bangles, not Jean Grae. So if you’re looking for hardcore, sex-puppy, or street cred, this is not the album for you. The closest this gets to that level is on “Wants And Needs,” a bluesy tune with a break by Boston’s Akrobatik.
On the other hand, if you’re open to upbeat R and B, sunny pop, and a soulful mix of singing and spoken word, I can’t think of a better 2010 release to buy. Lady Daisey shouts out to Sade, but she’s not sultry like that. She’s a lot more like the British soul/rap fusion artists who came across the pond a few years ago–Corrine Bailey Rae was the best of them. Lady Daisey is clearly having fun while she sings, and it seems impossible to imagine that you, the listener, won’t have fun, too. It’s infectious.
