With a cigarette in hand, a hoodie on her back, and a ponytail askew atop her five-foot-frame, 19-year-old English rapper Lady Sovereign looks like she would blend in anonymously at a crowded mall food court. But when it comes to her profession, the self-proclaimed “white midget” is anything buy commonplace. “I get attention for being really small and looking quite vulnerable in this sort of hip-hop, garage, and dance- the latest music genre to emerge from London. “But in my lyrics, I’m quite cheeky, outspoken, and sometimes rude.” Sitting in her producer Medasyn’s studio, she comes off a lot like her music- funny, tough, confident, and irreverent- as she chats cavalierly about being raised by punk parents (“They had all these weird spikes”), her inability to hold down a nine-to-five (“The longest I worked anywhere was like three weeks”), her fear of getting old (“You can’t go out and club it up. You can’t have sex or nothing”), her diss raps (“There’s a track on my new album about people who wear too much fake tan. It just looks really stupid and orange”), and getting in fights (“This one girl actually punched me, so I picked up a broom and hit her”).

Recording demos since she was 14, Sov circulate tracks on the Internet, garnering attention that eventually led to a deal with Casual Records (an imprint of Island) last year. She names Ms. Dynamite as an influence. “She was the first MC that I heard where I was like, ‘[Gasp] There is another girl out there doing this.’ Recently, in an article, she said that she loved my music. I felt really happy about that!” she says. Thanks to her track “Ch Ching” on Vice’s grime compilation, Run the Road, released in March; a Diesel U Music award; and opening spots for the likes of Basement Jaxx, D12, and the Streets, the release of her debut album (due out this fall) is highly anticipated- especially by Sov. “I have been waiting a fucking year and a half. Shit.” As for the future, she hopes that people will buy her album. “And I hope I don’t grow either,” she adds. “Because I keep getting taller.”