Lady Sovereign
The Fox Theatre, Boulder, Colorado
14.06.06
How many times can a 5’1″ British MC shout to an already drunk Boulder, Colorado crowd that she herself is “soooooo drunk”? Five. Five times. One can imagine that any alcohol in her small body with the Rocky Mountain elevation would put this girl on the floor. Well, almost. It at least made her stumble, ramble, and go hoarse. This is pure entertainment considering us silly Americans have a hard enough time understanding Lady Sovereign’s quick-paced lyrics, let alone drunk.
But I digress. Lady Sovereign is (cute) dope. So dope, in fact, that when she invited the entire Fox Theatre crowd back to her tour bus on Wednesday, I honestly considered going. She did invite us. Insisting that nerves had caused her to drink so much, Lady Sovereign seemed pleasantly surprised by how down Boulder was with the SOV.
Males lined the front of the stage. Hands in the air, like they just didn’t care. Females guffawed and poked their girlfriends, wishing they could be as crass and outspoken as she. The crowd went wild once lyrics like “If you hate me then fuck you! If you like me then fuck you!” started flowing. It’s not every day a white, female MC breaks into the scene with such guts and honesty. Kinda makes a girl want to follow suit.
While the truest Boulder heads were at the June 14th show for their “guilty pleasure,” Lady Sovereign, most of the crowd was in attendance for headlining act, The Streets. Leo The Lion was a great addition to the already talented group. My first time seeing The Streets and I wasn’t disappointed. They played all of the songs you’d expect them to play, interacted with the crowd, and seemed to enjoy themselves. Maybe a little too much.
Oh Mike Skinner. Mike Skinner, Mike Skinner, Mike Skinner. I heard he is training for the New York Marathon, a 26 mile (41.8 kilometers) race. With the workout he gets from his groupies, he shouldn’t have a hard time getting in shape. Well aware of his female fan-base, Skinner made no bones about getting girls liquored up and back stage. “Is that your boyfriend? Are you here with your boyfriend? You’re beautiful. I only have three backstage passes left and I’m so lonely. Is he your boyfriend?” Was one of the many lines used to coerce an already willing throng of girls backstage.
The show was a blast and provided loads of talent, humor and entertainment. There’s no question about that. Though I’m not sure whether the UK should be happy that our narrow minds have Sov and Skinner to stereotype as your hip-hop offerings, or whether you should start putting some other artists up on the charts. Actually, that’s a good idea. Until then I’ll get “Random” with Sov and imagine how down the UK gets.