I am formally confessing my guilty musical pleasure. If you were a regular reader, you would know that every night I listen to Jason Bentley online at KCRW in Los Angeles. Where I get my fix of electronics are many variations. I sometimes hear Streatbeat from Northwestern University at WNUR here in Chicago for similar offerings. But some of the music almost defies the genre. Which brings us to 3 young ladies who have caused quite a stir in recent years. Their names may not be familiar to you; but I can almost guarantee that you’ve heard his music. MIA, Princess Superstar and Lady Sovereign.

Probably the most popular at the moment is MIA. When I first saw her, it was clear that she was Indian, and when I heard her speak, it was clear that she was from the UK. Basically a British Indian or a “toast” as I am prone to say.

(By the way, now that I have a public forum, I would like to officially declare myself the inventor of the regular word hiring, also known as an acronym. I lived for more than 20 years in New York and Los Angeles, the two main media outlets, since late 80s to mid-2000s. And during that time I spoke to many people who were dedicated to many fields of media, and my great contribution to the English language has never been recognized. I know it is difficult to prove and so So hard for you to believe. But I know what I did. And I made it up!)

But going back to MIA, he was actually born in Sri Lanka and if you read his life story on Wiki, it’s a bit crazy. His new album Kala is all over the place because of the Boyz song and video. And if you look at Heroes, they did a double dutch scene a few weeks ago with this song. He has another tune called Paper Plans, where he generously shows off The Clash. She also performed it on Letterman, and had a Milli Vanilla moment, but the clip is just music set in pix.

His music is fun. It’s fun to hear it for the beat. Clearly, you are a person fascinated with the Roland MC-505. And when I first heard his music, I had a quick flashback of Adam Ant. Most of his music uses the Burundian rhythm. Then I had the feeling that its sound was reminiscent of the Kecak rhythm of Bali. That Kecak ceremony was filmed in the movie Baraka (and the Wild Boys with Steve-O filmed it too). If you decide to watch a clip of Kecak from YouTube, let me tell you that it can be a bit disturbing. That may not be the correct word, but it is unusual, so be prepared.

(Were you surprised by that tangent to culture? I think it’s because of my degree from the Anthropology department at Columbia University. And yes, I have a 10 foot travel whip. But I assure you, I am the only person who wears one! But my feeling is; a chase through a South American jungle was enough not to go empty-handed anymore).

But is it still rap music if it’s made by pretty young women from England, the Jewish community in New York, and Sri Lanka? Princess Superstar is from New York and she’s Jewish, but after 10 years, who could question her credentials? Certainly not me. She calls it more “flip flop” because, like MIA, she draws her influences from various sources, including electronics these days. He’s also been a DJ and recently had a VERY popular collaboration with Mason.

Next is Lady Sovereign. She is from England and very young. But trust me, you already know his song Love Me or Hate Me. I think it ended up in a phone commercial. Again, very catchy, and I enjoy it.

I also want to throw something else at you; Justice. They really shouldn’t be in an article about female rappers. As an electronic duo, they are much more comparable to Daft Punk, Air, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, and Basement Jaxx. But they have a couple of popular songs at the moment and chances are you’ve heard this one, and it features a female vocalist, so it fits with this theme.

So there they are; Putting a new face on rap. It’s reminiscent of when punk rock split into half a dozen strands in the late 90s, I think rap is about to enter a more diverse stage.