K.Flay - Suburban Rap Queen - Self released

White girl rap by a Stanford student... but somehow it's awesome. Fun and upbeat, extremely catchy with quick flows and decent computerized keyboard and drum-machine based production. A listen to just one song should give you a sense of what she's about. Strong woman's point of view in the songs, sometimes nerdy yet endearing lyrics about relationships, social conscious material, and the horror of frat parties. Must make the obligatory comparison to KZSU alum Andrew Nielson aka MC Lars, as well as similarities to MIA. This is really cool stuff and as local as you can get. The album is cleaned up for FCCs. Every song is good (except 12), but 2,7,8,11 are especially great.

1) Intro track, speaking/singing over warbly synth. "I'm a rap star plus I'm gorgeous/I write prose like Jorge Borges" (1:12)
2)* Catchy chorus with keyboard melody. Introduces K.Flay as the suburban rap queen (3:43)
3) Angry, talkin bout bein screwed over by some guy. A bit more rockin (4:18)
4) Bloopy-synth with funky rhythm, self-hyping lyrics (3:58)
5) A little more down and slow. Feminist message about sexual images (4:20)
6) Great ominous beats. Hilarious extended metaphor on sex/meat (3:57)
7)* Quicker, rides a tight keyboard. Nice flow and another catchy chorus (3:51)
8)* Darker with more satiric political lyrics about terrorism and American militarism/religion, sounds VERY MIA-ish (3:31)
9) Piano based track with chimes, slower and melancholy. Love saves her from depression (4:55)
10) Complaints about drama with guys, darker yet upbeat (4:18)
11)* Fast and funky beat with strong voice. Frat parties suck (3:36)
12) Drum n bass with keyboard synth. "The ghetto gets glorified in suburbia." Rap and singing (4:36)
13) Light piano work with clock sounds at time. Contemplating mortality. Ends at about -1:45. "Secret" track at -1:10 until end, just a re-do of the intro.