Occasionally, girls rap. Here’s proof.

Digable Planets alum Ladybug Mecca has kept busy throughout 2005 with extensive tours across North America and Europe along with the release of her solo debut, Trip the Light Fantastic, on her own label, Nu-Paradigm Entertainment.

It’s hard to believe 11 years have passed since the Planets first slipped into their extended hiatus. That long silence was broken early this year when the trio came together for a reunion tour across Europe. Last month saw the release of the Planets’ Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles, a comprehensive look at the act culling hits and rarities from the sessions that spawned their two studio albums, 1994’s
Blowout Comb and 1993’s Grammy-winning Reachin’. But don’t let the reunion fool you; Mecca’s solo work is by no means a trek back into mid-‘90s-inspired jazz-rap.

Trip the Light Fantastic is more of a bizarre amalgamation of alt. pop and neo-soul than a nostalgic nod to the Bohemianisms of DP. Mecca has developed a pleasant singing voice that she applies to the bulk of the record. She seldom raps, and when she does, it’s about the only hint of DP she puts forth.

Of the more rap-oriented tracks on the album, “Ladybug Come Outside” stands as one of the strongest. With its squirrel talk chorus and otherworldly beat structure, it demonstrates the experimental nature of the record without compromising Mecca’s leisurely-but-faultless flow and cadence. The courteously up-tempo “Step Up Wise” actually lifts the notorious standup bass riff from DP’s breakthrough hit single, “Rebirth of Slick.”

Mecca has wrapped up touring on the solo tip, but DP will be making their way around the Midwest and Northeast in the first half of November.

Digable Planets U.S. tour dates:

11/03 St. Louis, MO (@ Blue Note)
11/04 Chicago, IL (@ Park West)
11/05 Ann Arbor, MI (@ Blind Pig)
11/06 Indianapolis, IN (@ Vogue)
11/09 Burlington, VT (@ Higher Ground)
11/10 Cambridge, MA (@ Middle East)
11/11 Baltimore, MD (@ Sonar)
11/12 Ashville, NC (@ Orange Peel)
11/13 Carrboro, NC (@ Cat’s Cradle)

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Rhymesayers’ latest signee is Englewood’s own Psalm One (aka Kizzie Tangents). With a strong, punctual delivery reminiscent of greats like MC Lyte and Queen Latifah and the sarcastic charm of Missy, Psalm comes off like a 15-year veteran at age 24. The refurbished reissue of 2002’s Bio Chemistry dropped in late June of this year on Birthwrite Records. Nearly 20 tracks strong, the release is a solid compendium of Psalm’s limited output.

Not surprisingly, the album is fairly eclectic, as these kinds of collections tend to be. The track list bounces back and forth between pseudo abstraction and clear-cut anthemic bangers. Of the record’s more straightforward cuts, “Sugar” knocks just like the Chi oughta. With a production palette somewhere between Jake One and Kanye, the track erupts out of nowhere with the brawny, sing-along hook, “The line starts here / So stop pushin’ and move!” And as if it wasn’t already apparent, we’re reminded that “Psalm One give you sugar for ears! / Kizzie Tangents give you sugar for ears!”

“Life After Champaign County” is on a different plane altogether. Its awkward sample placement and a baffling, minimal chorus recall Anticon’s less glitch-coated moments.

Kizzie’s first “proper” full length, The Death of Frequent Flyer, is slated for an early ‘06 release. Behold the lonesome live date:

11/11 Chicago, IL (@ Abbey Pub)

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Chilean/Brazilian-Swedish MC Yarah Bravo hasn’t put forth much (if any) solo output throughout her brief and scattered discography of guest appearances. Best known for her collaborations with Ninja Tune artists DJ Vadim, Skalpel and TTC, Yarah positively has one of the laziest flows you’ll ever hear. It may be too lax for some, but her neo beatnik delivery will be enough to intrigue many.

A great example of Yarah’s spacier, more spoken word-oriented material can be found on Skalpel’s 2003 EP, Sculpture. Half-sung, half-rapped, “Voice of Reason” features a live jazzy Skaplepl session atop Yarah’s breezy poetics.

More recently, Yarah has kept busy as a member of One Self with NY-bred rap talent Blu Rum 13 and the abovementioned Vadim. For the trio’s latest single, “Paranoid,” Vadim drops a classic comic book beat, and Yarah rocks two sharply sardonic verses. Blu Rum provides the chorus.

For more Yarah, peep One Self’s Children of Possibility, now available on Ninja Tune.

One Self European tour dates:

11/04 Liverpool (@ Magnet)
11/05 Leeds (@ Wardrobe)
12/16 Moscow (@ Krizis Zhanra)
12/17 St. Petersburg (@ Red Club)

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