IT'S NOT EVERY DAY THAT A MANHATTAN-BASED DEF JAM honcho asks a North London rapper to spit grime in his office. But that's exactly what happened this summer when Lady Sovereign (nee Louise Harman), the latest blog blaze, was flown in for a meeting with Jay-Z and some of his friends-Usher, LA Reid and Teairra Mari. The cocky, cheeky, pint-size Feminem initially started blowing up on the Internet, instant messaging and posting her one-minute recordings to forums. "No one would play me on pirate radio," 19-year-old Sovereign reveals. "No one would invite me to do shows. It was me putting myself out on the Internet." Her tenacity paid off, leading to openings for Basement Jaxx, Obie Trice, Dizzee Rascal, D12 and the Streets on U.K. tour dates. Some U.S. gigs soon followed. Now there's a Chocolate Industries release of her Vertically Challenged EP (which includes the Beastie Boys' Ad Rock's remix of "A Little Bit of Shh!") and a Universal Worldwide deal. "I honestly don't know how it happened-it just happened.

And it's still happening now, even with this Jay-Z stuff, people are just picking me up," Sovereign insists. "I'm not forcing myself to do this. It's a natural thing. I enjoy it." Crediting her successes to fate would be too easy. That theory would deny credit to her brazen stage performance, audacious lyrical acumen and unabashed delivery. Sovereign says whatever she feels and doesn't give a damn what people think of it. "I don't want to be that five minute hype. No one is going to change, categorize or mold me into anything. I'm doing it my way."