Bio: Chemistry II: Esters and Essays (Birthwrite, 2004), a remastered and revamped version of the 2002 debut by local MC PSALM ONE, sometimes sounds less like a cohesive record than a sampler of her abilities. Luckily, her skill set is enormous. An impressive shape-shifter, she can rap in double time, effortlessly dish out complex rhymes (“On and On” pairs “stressed dudes hate me” and “test-tube baby”), and shift moods smoothly–“Joe Mama” is full of braggadocio (“How many heads do I split? Only God knows / Pissin’ on MCs, I got a hole where the crotch goes”), but her rhymes on “Life After Champaign County” are spaced-out and surreal. She avoids the clever punch lines and boasts about rims and Timbs that overpopulate much of mainstream hip-hop, unspooling stream-of-consciousness lines in her slightly gravelly voice with the playful abandon of a child left alone with a few dozen tubes of finger paint. And though she has an ego-inflating amount of talent, she consistently presents a lighthearted, down-to-earth persona. Last October she signed with the Minneapolis-based hip-hop label Rhymesayers, and “The Death of Frequent Flyer,” her first album since the deal, is slated for the end of the year–with luck the backing of a heavyweight indie will help her get the wider recognition she deserves. –Kabir Hamid
