Odessa

I listen to all kinds of music, and I explore all kinds of music. I have recently come across a rapper named Lady Sovereign. Her fast staccato raps are well put together and many are funny as hell. She is so good, that Def Jam's Jay-Z (for you that don't know, a pretty big fish in the rapper world) wants to bring her into his house.

Here's her problem - she's white (sometimes dubbed the Fem-Emenem) and she is British. Much of her subject matter has to do with being British and poking fun of London. But just as much has to do with making fun of some of our pop-culture across "the pond". My self and some of my peers get her humor, but I am not the in best demographic for boosting rap record sales. The demographic she would be shooting for isn't interested in world politics. It is likely lucky if they can squeak by with a passing grade in social studies, world studies, whatever the education establishment wants to call it these days.

Unfortunately for very talented world artists, we are a myopic culture, us Americans. Much of the world gobbles up our culture. However, we completely ignore most of theirs. Even when an artists from around the world occasionally regurgitate some of our stuff (i.e. rap) back at us, with their own very worthwhile slant. And in this case, you can't even claim language as a barrier - the girl raps in English, with a British accent to our American ears, but English never the less.

I think collectively, we need to seriously get over ourselves.