Ms. Dynamite

North London's Ms. Dynamite is the kind of sweet and sexy diva who'd sooner throw her
man down a flight of stairs than suffer any disrespect from him. On this, her debut album,
Ms. D spits it like a sailor and twirls gracefully through various funky styles: "Put Him Out" is
a stuttering bass-driven shredder, wherein Dynamite resembles Betty Boop rocking the
dancehall; "Brother" is glimmering, tender R&B. "It Takes More" pogos on top of a F... More >

If all beats are created equal, then Niomi Daley's spare garage is as strong as Kimberley Jones's thick hip-hop. If flow is as flow does, then her earned plasticity is as fresh as Lauryn Hill's easy liquidity. If singing is basically a matter of sincerity, then her straitened cadences express as complexly as Erykah Badu's high-flying scats. If conscious is enough, then "Tell me how many Africans died for the baguettes on your Rolex" will educate as deep as "Black like the perception of who on welfare." But good music isn't the same thing as a catchy feature story, and this Mercury Prize winner has less flavor than a plate of mashed. She's biracial and the eldest of 10 children and manifestly good-hearted, and when she goes ragga on the way out I wish she hadn't been groomed for something bigger and blander. But she made her choice. (Grade: C+)