While Niomi Arleen MacLean-Daley always knew she loved music, she thought that her "grown up" career would have something to do with teaching or social work. Growing up listening to reggae and hip-hop, Lady Dynamite (as she was originally known) first premiered her sound with the London pirate station RAW FM. There, Ms. Dynamite met Richard Forbes, the "sticky" music producer, who helped the North London native create her first single.

"Boo!" was heard across pirate radio stations as Ms. Dynamite worked on her debut album, A Little Deeper. The album appeared in 2002 while Ms. Dynamite continued working with other UK garage groups like So Solid Crew. The album, which was produced by Punch, Salaam Remi, Tony Kelly and Dave Kelly, appeared in the US and earned Ms. Dynamite a Mercury Music Prize, the first black female artist to do so. She donated her prize earnings to the NSPCC and began making her first public appearances at the Commonwealth Games at the City of Manchester Stadium as well as the Live 8 concert in London.

Her singles "It Takes More" and "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" were hits in her home and abroad as she began working on her sophomore effort. Judgment Days was released in 2005. Though it saw less critical acclaim than her debut, it still had a Top 30 hit in the UK. The album was appropriately titled, as Ms. Dynamite was convicted to six months of community service after she punched a police officer during a night club brawl. After her run in with the law, the artist stayed away from the limelight. Since then, Ms. Dynamite has kept her space with the music industry, releasing A Little Darker, an EP, in 2006.