Here we go again: the UK garage girl gets the US R&B makeover. Following Ms Dynamite and Mis-Teeq, Lisa Maffia's gone from thrilling, mic-bustin' cameos on So Solid tracks like 'Oh No (Sentimental Things)' to this - aping Aaliyah, Brandy, Kelis, et al. The record company reasoning behind this Americanisation of our street divas - that, er, they'll sell better in America - has yet to be proved correct; not even the achingly credible Dynamite has impacted over there.
There's the whiff of sexism about the whole theory. The boys - whether it's Romeo or Harvey, or Dizzee Rascal or Fallacy - don't have to compromise or start affecting a Bronx drawl, so why do the girls? Maybe because the mythical US market is so conservative that it wouldn't be able to handle a Lisa Maffia as bold and bolshy as the one we saw in the '21 Seconds' video. So here's the new, airbrushed version, looking like a blingin' princess, sounding like she's holding back on every track.
Let's face it, Lisa Maffia doesn't have a distinctive voice, but when you're crooning over something as original and in-your-face as '21 Seconds' it doesn't really matter. The problem with her debut is that there's nothing on it as out-there as So Solid's finest moments. It's a shame but, taken on its own terms - a slick R&B record - 'First Lady' is by no means a disaster. The production from the Crew's JD, Swiss and Dan Da Man is first class, especially on current single 'In Love' and the low-slung funk of 'Women Of The World'.
The sound of the album is very much in thrall to Timbaland's work for Aaliyah - 'Down' is a direct relation to 'Try Again' - and only rarely ups the pace. But tellingly, the stand-outs are the tracks that sound like the Lisa Maffia of old - that sound British, basically. Last single 'All Over' is a bold manifesto, riding on an amazing, minimalist cut-up rhythm.
'So Solid Party' has Maffia spitting out soundbites over a bouncing garage beat and deadly 303 basslines, and it's like a breath of fresh air amidst the otherwise mid-tempo Yank-placating numbers. 'Night Crawler', meanwhile, is a wickedly sexy slice of pounding garage action, with the real Maffia emerging from behind the put-on transatlantic-isms. These tracks go to prove that, if only she'd dropped the act more often, she could've had a minor classic on her hands.
