Amanda Blank

• Genre: Electro-Funk

About

The only thing "blank" about this Philly rapper is the name. No blank slate, Amanda Blank is an in-command presence with sass to spare. Blank came up alongside her hometown homies Spank Rock, dropping rhymes on their 2006 album Yoyoyoyoyo; the same year, she anchored Aaron LaCrate's Blow EP. She was soon appearing on all manner of tracks and mixtapes from the likes of Santigold and Diplo. She released her debut album, I Love You, in 2009. Produced by Diplo, TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek and Spank Rock's XXXChange, the album balances feverishly futuristic dance music -- itself a fusion of crunk, Baltimore club and internationalist beats that probably haven't even been named yet -- with touches of new wave, from flourishes of the B-52s in "Make It Take It" to the gutter electro of "Might Like You Better," which reprises the sultry come-on ("...if we slept together") of '80s pop aberration Romeo Void's "Never Say Never." Whatever her name suggests, coloring outside the lines comes easy to Amanda Blank.

- Philip Sherburne