10. Ms. DynamiteA Little Deeper
She’s been airbrushed out of the early 00s. She was huge at that time and had a groundbreaking album. Because people didn’t care for the follow-up album, they kind of retracted from their earlier enthusiasm. In ‘It Takes More’, she saysL “How many Africans died/ For the baguettes on your Rolex?” Incredible lyric. But the real killer one on there for me was ‘Put Him Out’, you know [sings]: “You’ve got to put him out, change them locks and all that”. I can’t hear that song all the way through without weeping. It’s so real and true, and so easy for women to get into that position where they will adopt some worthless man just because he’s all they’ve got.
She was singing about what she’d seen growing up. I suppose her brother, Akala, does as well. He’s not some shy and retiring flower when it comes to lyrics. He calls it like it is. It’s a shame that people only really know that album for ‘Dy-Na-Mi-Tee’, which is the most fluffy, throwaway track on the album. You need to go a little deeper. Sonically, as well, that record was quite groundbreaking. It was electronic and up there with what people were doing on the other side of the pond.
