Put You Up On Game: Introducing Your New Favorite Rapper
“You want beef? Safe, cool den. You got a team? K? Call dem!”
Meet Lady Leshurr, the 25-year-old English rapper whose latest release is going viral as you read this. For fans of Young Money, she’s a particularly easy sell – an attractive, brown-skinned woman, with strong punch line flow, swagger dripping from her pores, and a bit of a potty mouth. Take away the English accent, tone the ratchet down 1/2 a notch, and you could almost be listening to someone else. (I know what you’re thinking. Has Drake heard of this woman yet? Because she sure seems like his type. Not sure if she’s single; she’s a stranger. But this could be a match up. Patty Stanger. Forgive me. The punchline flow is contagious.)
However, if you’re thinking that Ms. Leshurr is an overseas Nicki Minaj knock-off, you’re sorely mistaken. She’s got a playfulness and energy that are completely her own, and in her ‘Queen’s Speech’ videos, where she appears mostly alone, she owns the camera with the stage presence of a veteran superstar.
Queen’s Speech Ep. 4
In this one-take, three-and-a-half minute video, Lady Leshurr catwalks down the middle of a road (which, by the way, has cars driving on it), while spitting lines like:
A couple of snakey friends just Adam and Eve’d us
I am totally going to start using ‘Adam and Eve’ as a verb.
I got a dark skin friend that looks like Rachel Dolezal
And I got Light skin friend that looks like Rachel Dolezal
Clever nod to both recent events & Kanye West’s ‘Slow Jamz.’
Don’t think you’re buff cus you’re wearing contour
Cus I’ll wipe your brows off
I can’t explain why, but I find the idea of wiping someone’s eyebrows off absolutely hilarious. Like, I’m not going to hit you. I won’t even try to fight you. But I will ruin your whole night by coming at you with some makeup remover. And of course,
Dead ting!
I realize that she didn’t coin this, but it’s been a while since I’ve heard it, and I’m loving the reminder. This is my new response to being asked about people/things I no longer deal with. I don’t care you think, Regina. It’s happening.
Queen’s Speech Ep. 3
The lights are out, but the flow is on. Lyrical highlights include:
And I can’t stand girls, who take their heels off when they’re in a rave
I’ll step on your big toe, just to remind you how to behave
I can’t even. The absolute gall that it would take to purposefully step on someone’s bare foot in order to teach them an etiquette lesson…it’s just too much. I would never. But I believe that she would. And I’m kind of here for it. And…
I’ll be Beyonce to these girls and I’ll Michelle them
That one hurts. But I still laugh every time I hear it.
For more from Lady Leshurr, check out #LUKATAR & Queen’s Speech Ep. 2. Or, if you’ll be in Manchester, London, or Birmingham in October, see her live at an upcoming show. You should probably share this article too, for the satisfaction of proving that you listened to her before she went seriously ‘mainstream.’
And Drake, if you’re reading this and you get any ideas…
Thank Me Later.
