Details
Track Listing
1. Ignite
2. Girl For All Seasons
3. Nice With It
4. Last Night
5. Think Twice - (featuring The High & Mighty)
6. Don't Look Down
7. Siren Song
8. Style I Bring
9. Time to Rhyme
10. Speaking For Me
11. Summer Never Ends - (featuring Har Mar Superstar)
Album Notes
Northern State: Hesta Prynn (vocals, piano); Spero, Sprout (vocals).
Additional personnel: Damian Quinones (vocals, piano); Har Mar Superstar, Mr. Eon, Pete Rock, The High & Mighty, Dana Klein (vocals); Rob Hill (guitar, strings, synthesizer, programming); Steve Halpern (guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, programming); Katie Cassidy, Chris Fargo (guitar); John Fields (electric guitar, Wurlitzer piano, synthesizer, acoustic bass guitar); Alice Lord (violin); Thera L (piano, organ, drum programming); Mike Halpern (drums, percussion); DJ Drez.
A sort of female version of the Beastie Boys, Northern State is a hip-hop act comprised of three young white women who rap about gender inequality and spending too much money in Manhattan. ALL CITY, the follow-up to the group's acclaimed debut, DYING IN STEREO, has Sprout, Spero, and Hesta Prynn out in full force, busting rhymes over dense, beat-filled tracks and throwing around plenty of Long Island attitude.
It's hard to tell how much of Northern State's appropriation of hip-hop vernacular and posturing is earnest and how much is ironic, but either way, there is no denying the cleverness, intelligence, and fun of the trio's rhymes. Northern State name-checks pop culture like nobody's business, and a listen through the album yields references to BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, Tupac Shakur, Ben and Jerry's, IKEA, and Chiang Kai-Shek. At times, Northern State brings to mind the tough girls who taunted others in grade school, but for something different, the smart, witty raps on ALL CITY deliver.
Industry Reviews
Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - [They] mix old-school cadences with grad-school smarts...
3 stars out of 5 - [H]ip-hop for the modern fabulous woman.
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