Lady N - N

It's always nice to see more women enter the dancehall scene and Lady N from Moscow is definitely a deejay to keep an eye on. She's the uncrowned queen of dancehall in Russia. Lady N's been part of the dancehall scene for eight years and in 2010 she won the award for "Best Female Reggae and Dancehall Artist in Russia".

For this album she collaborated with Boomrush Productions from Germany. 'N'Cognito' really shows the versatility that this young lady is capable of. Some of the tracks on the album, like 'Pon Mi Mind' and 'You Wanted' can be labeled as pop dancehall style, others have a more electronic feel to them, like 'Not Ready' (on the Sexy Bitch riddim). The album also contains some hip hop elements, e.g. on 'Run Away', a hint of dubstep on 'Wine' and even a bhangra beat on 'Nuh Waan'. 'Why' also has a pretty interesting riddim, an adaptation of classic Jamaican ska with a very infectious effect. Lady N writes all of her lyrics in patois and does a pretty good job at that. Her singing/toasting style is hard to describe, because it is different on every song.

Her voice has a dark touch to it, which  is a bit reminiscent of Rihanna on some of the more poppy tracks. But the best songs on the album are the pure dancehall ones like 'Real Style' where Lady N can flaunt her energetic toasting style which is somewhere in between Tami Chynn and Ce'Cile. 'N'Cognito' includes one reggae track, 'Singing For Living', which shows that besides toasting, Nataliya can sing too. Conclusion: we need to see more talented young women like Lady N inna di dancehall!