Lady Sovereign

The enfant terrible of the grime scene, Lady Sovereign (nee Louise Harmon) is perhaps the most hyped and, more importantly, the most talented female artist to emerge from the U.K. in some time. Her roadrunner flow, impeccable breath control and bratty, near-absurdist wit have helped her displace M.I.A. as electronic music's perennial next big thing. It's a lot of pressure for someone so young, but the London native doesn't seem to take things too seriously. On "Random," one of her two hit singles from 2005 ("9 to 5" was the other), Sovereign quotes J-Kwon's "Tipsy" along with Luda's "Move Bitch" and concludes that "J. Lo's got a batty/But you can't see mine cuz my trousers are baggy." Yeah, it's silly-stupid, but it's also a lot of fun. That single would serve as the anchor for her stateside debut, the Chocolate Industries EP Vertically Challenged, named so for her petite stature. The buzz surrounding Sovereign has been steadily building, and for her major label debut she has been courted by none other than Def Jam's Jay-Z.