Please support tiny flower sparkle princess fairies in hip hop.

January 31, 2013 11:05 AM

The new Kitty (formerly Kitty Pryde) EP, D.A.I.S.Y. Rage is out today for your free streaming/download. If'n you wanna tumblrize and girlize and otherwise coyly subvert yr hip hop. ☠DEAD❤ISLAND☠ video. Previously seen on MetaFilter for her Okay Cupid and Orion's Belt videos which sparked heated debates. Noisey has an interview with her, and she's also taking over their twitter for the day. "If her new EP feels like the work of an artist coming into their own, that’s because it is: It’s as cohesive a body of work as the rapper has ever put out, showcasing the crooked self-assurance that it takes to cop to shit like bed-wetting and making a song with a guy who rejected you."
posted by naju (27 comments total)

I've had this conversation about three or four times with other men in their late-20s:

"Hey, Kitty Pryde is playing live soon. I feel weird going alone, so you want to come with me?"
"She's great! Absolutely not."
posted by griphus at 11:12 AM on January 31 [4 favorites]

Explicit reference to 3 Feet High and Rising era De La Soul?
posted by Ad hominem at 11:14 AM on January 31

I mean, I'm not entirely surprised she would draw on 3 Feet High and Rising and it's Da Inner Sound Y'all thing, but that album is 24 years old. 4- 5 years older than Kitty right? Thats cool I guess.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:26 AM on January 31

This may be a stupid question, but are there quality rap and hip-hop artists suitable for young kids? I'd like my 6 year old to be exposed to many musical styles, but not necessarily the standard adult content.
posted by swimming naked when the tide goes out at 11:30 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I'll go with you griphus. I'm so old people we can tell people I'm her dad.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:39 AM on January 31

swimming naked when the tide goes out: No. Just listen to parappa the rappa or something.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:39 AM on January 31

buy clean edits of A Tribe Called Quest.
posted by 2bucksplus at 11:40 AM on January 31

I can't think of any hip hop artists I'd feel comfortable recommending to 6 year olds. Kitty definitely wouldn't qualify, just to be clear (valium abuse, drunken hookups, etc.)
posted by naju at 11:42 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

This may be a stupid question, but are there quality rap and hip-hop artists suitable for young kids?

Blue Scholars doesn't have anything objectionable that I'm aware of, but it seems unlikely that the kid would identify with any of the themes presented.
posted by Jpfed at 11:44 AM on January 31

I'm not sure if kids really "identify" with music at age 6. I remember dancing to The Police's Roxanne when I was pretty young. My little brother and I had no idea what it meant, but it was fun to dance (on my parents' bed) to the song.

My wife and I are thinking of getting the clean versions of some music we like [Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "The Heist" comes to mind at the moment], because it's fun stuff, but there's a lot of obscenities, even if the material isn't particularly bad in most cases.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:50 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I can't think of any hip hop artists I'd feel comfortable recommending to 6 year olds.

Blackalicious maybe? I remember their songs being mostly positive and profanity-free.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:54 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Anyway, back from the 90s, yeah this EP is continued amazing from KP. Her persona is still most of the cool, but her skills are improving. 10 years from now you think people will be listening to this or 2chains? Love it, love her, love hip hop. Hooray!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:57 AM on January 31

... that album is 24 years old. 4- 5 years older than Kitty right? Thats cool I guess.

Welcome to the threshold where classic (golden era?) hip-hop starts becoming like classic rock and other music from decades: something young people know about, but weren't around to experience themselves. Just like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and Bob Marley are timeless influences upon people, and their likenesses are known by kids today, but these young upstarts weren't even alive to see those bands play live. Yet, the music still sells, and bedrooms and dorm rooms are adorned in the posters.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:59 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

So, she's now just Kitty? Did Marvel's legal dept. have a little visit with her?
posted by Thorzdad at 11:59 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]

This may be a stupid question, but are there quality rap and hip-hop artists suitable for young kids?

Why hasn't anyone suggested Will Smith yet? Finest child-friendly rap there has ever been.
posted by Peccable at 12:00 PM on January 31

Because Will Smith is garbage. How about Lil Poopy actually?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:04 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

This may be a stupid question, but are there quality rap and hip-hop artists suitable for young kids?

I feel like there's a lot of '80s hip-hop that doesn't actually have objectionable-for-kids lyrical content. I mean, Run-DMC, right? Kool Moe Dee? Monie Love? Probably a question of just how hyped up you want the little tiger to get (I wouldn't want to deal with a 6-year-old on a sugar rush listening to "I Go To Work" on repeat).
posted by furiousthought at 12:17 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Why hasn't anyone suggested Will Smith yet? Finest child-friendly rap there has ever been. yt
posted by Peccable at 12:00 PM on January 31 [+] [!]

I think you meant this one.
posted by smartypantz at 12:53 PM on January 31

I never really listened to hip hop, but lately I've been getting into stupid stuff like As$p Rocky and Chief Keef. Watched the 'OkCupid' video last night and fell in love with Kitty Pryde. She reminds me a bit of the Moldy Peaches, and she's pretty much perfect.

Has she ever teamed up with Jean Grae?
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 1:40 PM on January 31

I've avoided listening to KP (or just K, I guess) until just now, mostly out of a fear that it would make me feel way old or something, but hearing these now, they're pretty okay (Dead Island sounds great, but the lyrics, meh; Orion's Belt is more interesting, but doesn't really have the same catchy beat + layered sound) and she has a lot of potential. I'll totally check out more of her music. Thanks, naju.

The glittery girly teenager aesthetic is probably the least interesting thing going on to me, though, because it just feels like a different kind of posturing and I'd rather just listen to people rap sincerely about things because I'm way old I guess.
posted by byanyothername at 1:47 PM on January 31

So, she's now just Kitty? Did Marvel's legal dept. have a little visit with her?

I think so. From a July 25, 2012 Facebook post: "changing my rap name to bedbug because im gna get sued soon". I also found references to a post on her tumblr that said "my manager vetoed the decision to change my name to alex locastro someone think of a rap name that isn’t copyrighted 4 me", but I think the post has since been removed.
posted by jedicus at 1:49 PM on January 31

Why did Marvel just go after her, though? There's Jean Grae, I think Ghostface or someone like that calls himself 'Tony Starks', MF Doom has his whole Doombot/Doom mask gimmick, and there must be others I don't know since, again, I don't really listen to rap.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 2:56 PM on January 31

You fucking undercut me like I'm Skrillex hair

Genius.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:38 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]

As for the name change, she maintains she was never sued by Marvel, but instead felt the plight of unhappy X-Men fans. "If somebody was calling themselves James Franco and I really hated their music and every time I Googled James Franco, I was seeing somebody I hated, that would suck because then I wouldn’t be seeing James Franco," she explains, a fan of comics herself. As true believers know, with great power, there must also come great responsibility.
posted by JT at 10:31 AM on February 2

Explicit reference to 3 Feet High and Rising era De La Soul?

And she plays on Wu-Tang Clan and with the line "rash rules everything around me."

The kids are alright.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:28 AM on February 6

Teenage Girls, Rap Music and Why Kitty Pryde is the Savior
posted by naju at 4:24 PM on February 6

I know very little about Ms Pryde, but I have to buy her a drink for her repurposing of the Daisy Age as "D.A.I.S.Y. Rage", and lacking in actual rage.
posted by Mezentian at 8:19 AM on February 23