"There's no such thing as superstars," she says on her debut single 'It Takes More'. But Ms Dynamite's twinkling eyes, white shell suits and ragga-soul voice are already rocketing towards peak popularity.
Few first albums generate as much clamour and yearning as this, an obvious example being Lauryn Hill's 'Miseducation'. And like Lauryn, Ms Dynamite is the prototype of the contemporary star, whether she likes it or not: a singer, rapper, chatter, writer, producer, role model and the face with the exploding smile.
The Lauryn parallels also exist in the music itself, with the very moving tribute to little bro, 'Brother', possessing all the frank sentimentality and even some of the lyrical inclinations of 'Zion'. But what the dreadless diva lacks in humility, Ms D makes up for with bags of wisdom delivered without a hint of self-righteousness.
She's simultaneously sweet and authoritative, lovingly advising a friend to get rid of a bad man on 'Put Him Out', or juxtaposing her youthful innocence with a f**k-this, f**k-that tirade against chemical drugs on the opening track 'Natural High'.
In the elegiac silence of 'Watch Over Them', she takes a social stance on gun crime: "The same gunmen that cry 'bout suppression/Of the white man and his racist oppression/Go a church and give God his confession/Gun in his pocket and crack in his possession." Poetics as conscious as this, offered alongside sexy bops like 'Anyway U Want It' and the overall intimacy that charges the album place Ms Dynamite in a powerful position politically. If she stays on this track, she is capable of doing more for the future psyche of urban youth than Blair could ever hope or claim to.
'A Little Deeper' is a lyrical bombshell and its only downfall is that the production has a tendency to sound flat and mundane by comparison, tracks like 'Krazy Krush' and 'Sick 'n' Tired' in particular fail to inspire in this department. Minor concerns though - this is the beginning of a phenomenal career and a kick up the arse for British music.
