hip-hop you havenﾒt heard
Well, one thingﾒs for sure, you wonﾒt be hearing any Ice Cube-esque musings about shagging women in cars from these ladies. Northern State are the latest hip-hop phenomenon from the States ﾖ three ladies who are helping to put the lyricism back into rap music.
With up to date rhymes about everything from teen TV (Step off, your flow is weak/Save that talk for Dawsonﾒs Creek) to foodstuffs (Sprout on the prowl down center court/Hesta Prynn on the roof with a chocolate torte) - a welcome return to food in hip hop, since the Beastie Boys recalled their love of macaroni cheese - Northern State leave the drive-by shootings and turf wars to the ﾑgangstasﾒ and focus on more offbeat offerings instead.
So how did it all come about?
Northern State are Hesta Prynn, DJ Sprout and Guinea Love. Sprout and Prynn met in elementary school on Long Island (when they were still Robyn Goodmark and Julie Potash). Later on Sprout introduced Prynn to her best friend from High School, Correne Spero (a.k.a. Guinea Love).
Spout + Prynn + Guinea + beer + weed = The Northern State we see before us today. Aided by Julieﾒs love of downloading old skool hip-hop, the trio used to meet up at weekends to dance around the living room. One night Correne brought up the idea that the three could actually make music themselves. Hesta Prynn suggested they "not call it something over-the-top-feminist like Hester Prynn or something" and luckily, a drive on the Northern State parkway, Long Island, provided them with a name.
After regular meetings to write rhymes and small performances for friends and family, Northern State received an offer/challenge in April 2001 to open for a friend's band on the Lower East Side. They went into overdrive and got a band together, made flyers, and called everyone theyﾒd ever met. The place was packed out and they kept getting invited back.
In January 2002, the girls holed up in Ithaca for a few days to record their four-song demo, Hip Hop You Haven't Heard. They returned to the city, submitted it to various NYC publications and the buzz began to grow.
They got featured in Time Out NY and the Village Voice, and then the demo got a four star review in Rolling Stone. The Hip Hop community started to take notice and the ladies soon found themselves sharing the stage with the X-ecutioners and opening for De La Soul.
In the summer of 2002 they followed up their demo with another independent recording, Dying in Stereo, an 8 song mini-album. Now signed to Columbia Records, the band will be touring in London and the Northeast with The Roots.
Learn more about the band and listen to their music at their official website
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