Snapping the gap between rhyme and punchline comes NYC's finest, Princess Superstar! Just take a deep one and dive in!
The time has come for the genre-bending, DIY hip-hop fashionista to flip the underground upside down and dominate the charts with mad hatter hilarity and a voice as smooth as whiskey on crotch. Princess Superstar Is touched down on January 29th, 2002 on Corrupt Conglomerate/Rapster Recs./Studio!K7.
Born in a graffiti-covered manger on 172nd and St. Nicholas Ave to a Sicilian-American mother and Russian-Polish-Jewish father, eclecticism was bred in her bones. Growing up in the 70s, Princess Superstar fed herself a steady stream of rock and soul, from Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Spending her early years in bucolic bliss on a Pennsylvania farm and then suburban Philly, Princess Superstar's musical foundation was made complete the day she heard Kurtis Blow raining through the radio. As the young royal came of age, like a road movie legend, she headed off to Manhattan, at a tender 17, to reclaim her New York City roots.
Her crazy love for music of many shades and the rebel cut of her jib led Miss Superstar to abandon the outmoded codes and pioneer her own style: "She doesn't fit into any existing school of hip hop so she created her own." (REVOLVER) Striking the scene in 1995 with Strictly Platinum, a smirk-filled album ahead of the pack and its times that had critics throwing praise in the air, and wavin' it like they just didn't care: "if you yearn for the days when a rap record was both exciting and innovative, as well as fun, Strictly Platinum has your name scrawled across it" (ALTERNATIVE PRESS) Determined to make each time out more devilishly clever than the last, Princess Superstar's follow-up opus debuted on her self-founded label, A Big Rich Major Label. Her royal nastiness knows that sometimes you got to do it yourself to do it right. The year was 1997, and her hellbent collision of lyrical prowess and down to earth divadom had the press going wild. With maxed out VISAs and a new business suit, Princess Superstar took in props for CEO like : "This record defies expectations and categorization," and "This is truly some next-level shit" (ELEMENTAL) The album proved to be a shot of musical adrenaline with its seamless weave of hip-hop, electronica, punk and unabashed experimentation. With the verbal arabesques of a thuggette poet, Princess Superstar was hailed as "a brilliantly eccentric rhyme diva. . . and a master manipulator of pop culture references." (CMJ)
Princess Superstar spent the next two years crafting her third record, a future-flowing Hip-Hop masterstroke. On her newly minted label, the Corrupt Conglomerate, she released Last of the Great 20th Century Composers in the Spring of 2000, cementing her throne in the East Coast indie hip-hop scene. Featuring collabs with hip-hop's brightest lights from De La Soul alumni Prince Paul to former Fugee John Forte to Blues Explosion's Jon Spencer, the album burst onto the scene with its slick, giddy egotism, yoni-drenched brassyness, and undeniably slamming beats. The press could not contain its glee for a record that resurrected the best of Rock 'n Roll's outlander sexuality with hip-hop's penchant for irreverent humor. Hip-Hop Bible the Source declared "With hip-hop finding a soft spot for humor nowadays, look for Princess Superstar to be held responsible for a few much-much-needed laughs!" THE FACE exclaimed: "A wicked appraisal of superficial, sleazy and self-obsessed NYC street etiquette . . . She is Princess Superstar. Now show her the money!" Princess Superstar was counted amongst the female luminaries of hip hop in the BBC Radio 1 documentary hosted by Tim Westwood that also featured Missy Elliot, Rah Diggah and Salt 'N Pepa. She also appeared in a Channel 4 comedy documentary with Mystikal.
It's Fall of 2000 and Princess Superstar is quickly realizing that running a label and soaking up the limelight can work the nerves of even the steeliest jet setter. She is, however, determined to stay independent, brushing off major label table scraps and finding a home with Rapster Recs, imprint of !K7 Records.
So in winter of 2000, taking a cue from The Shining, Princess Superstar locks herself in the studio once again with Curtis Curtis, and at the Vertical Corporation recording studio she wrote, produced and recorded her most recent sonic slice of heaven. That's right, read that again, the lady writes all her own lyrics, plays instruments and produces tracks too! Behind every real woman, is someone begging for her number.
Watch out this Fall, 2001 when Keith 'N Me - a pornscape duet with Kool Keith is released from her forthcoming album. The floor fodder B-Side "Wet! Wet! Wet!" is produced by none other than DJ Mighty Mi (High & Mighty, The Smut Peddlers) and will be featured in an upcoming episode of Sex in the City!
Once "Keith 'N me" whets your appetite for some full-length Princess, hang on for January 29th, 2001 when the album hits a record rack near you. "Hold your breath when you see me walkin' by" instructs Miss Superstar on the song "Trouble" and hold your breath you will. With each track a streetwise fable, the album unfolds as unpredictable stroll through the mind of a lyrical genius, an incredible producer, and a woman with more soul than a hundred exorcisms. Your ribs will crack, the hair on the back of your neck will stand tall, and your blinds will close so that you can touch yourself. You will know the Princess gospel gold when you hear "I'm gonna own everything like I was an apostrophe. . . Number 1 on billboard, a record of just me coughing - - see!" Can I get a witness?
Her taste for unboxed music extends to her collaborations, which on this record bring in the likes of fellow innovators Bahamadia, Kool Keith, The High & Mighty, JZone, Mista Sinista (X-ecutioners), Chops of the Mountain Brothers, and Mr. Len of Company Flow (and more!!). Not just limited to the noteworthy revolutionaries of hip-hop, Princess includes collaboration with the Norfolk chanteuse and Brit Award winner, Beth Orton. Produced by Chops from the Mountain Brothers, "Untouchable Part 2" castes a lilting melody along side the Princess' soft side, the quiet vulnerability that is her underflow. The reply is "Untouchable Part 1" produced by The Herbaliser which features the hallmark Princess swagger with a feminist slant: "I got sexists begging to make me breakfast!" Produced by the Princess herself "Welcome to My World" has the last word over a demented playground beat: "Everyone tells me I'm the female Eminem. . . well all I'm gonna talk about is getting fucked up the ass then!" Who could say more?
Roast your Winter 2001 chestnuts on the fire of "Bad Babysitter" featuring the High & Mighty, a laugh-heavy track chronicling the damp, naughty fantasy lives of babysitters all over the world. Get those letters to Penthouse forum ready and enjoy another classic Princess Superstar recording.
As if the madness blasting through your speakers wasn't enough, Princess Superstar LIVE is a trans-dimensional excursion. Playing with the likes of DJ Jazzy Jeff, Anti-Pop Consortium, Tony Touch and Mista Sinista, her highness brings her bar fight bravado to venues all over the world.
With sixteen cuts of innovative off-the-map originality, "Princess Superstar Is" is a hip-hop extravaganza, a block party backdrop, and an avalanche of hilarious one-liner mojo. And not a second too soon! Next-level shit indeed.
Praise and Props Abound:
"('Last of the Great'..contains) enough rampant beatsmithery, electronica, off-kilter pop and whipsmart rapping to render any competition utterly redundant. All hail the real Slim Shady!" NME
"Fucking Great" Sleazenation (UK)
"The most refreshing record of the year so far5 stars" The Independent
"MC Princess Superstar wins with a combination of sheer humor, self deprecation and enough ego to trip on for days...the laughs on this one last all year round" URB Magazine
"While Lil' Kim tends to look and sound like LaToya Jackson on crack, Princess Superstar comes off as a lady with clever wit and hooks to match." Wu-Tang Newsletter
"PSST! Mate, over 'ere! Forget your Eminems an' all that soft-core shite-'ave a gander at this. 34 multi-remixed minutes of non-stop, no-holds-barred 'ardcore, rumpo-rap aksheyuuun! Bums, bits, front bottoms, the lot. Dirtier than "Charlotte Church Sings the Hits of Notorious BIG" Melody Maker
"With hip-hop finding a soft spot for humor nowadays, look to Princess Superstar to provide a few much-needed laughs." The Source
"Her approach is fresh and funny as hell and the record simple sounds like no others out there." Time Out New York
"Very Odd Piece" Ebay
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