"Louise Harman, aka MC Lady Sovereign, was born in northwest London's Chalkhill Estate, an area recognized for its rugged street atmosphere. The ""thug"" street life that Sovereign grew up in helped materialize lyrics and allowed her to become a well known rapper at a young age. Listening to her mother's Salt-N-Pepa albums, by the time she was 14 she was already writing her own material. She ultimately decided to drop out of school to pursue other avenues.She started acting in an independent film, joining a fellow drop-out from the same high school. Before long, she convinced the producers that Lady Sovereign, her new moniker, could create the perfect melodies to harmonize the film. When she recorded a few demos for the indie, the producers were extremely impressed and eventually the tracks were given to producer Medasyn. Partnering Lady Sovereign with Frost P, ZuZ Rock and Shystie for a male vs. female MC 12"" that he was working on, Lady Sovereign got her first shot at recording something real. ""The Battle"" appeared on Medasyn's 2003 Casual Records release and jump started the white rapper to stardom.Following ""The Battle,"" Lady Sovereign started pushing out singles left and right, including ""A Little Bit of Shhh!,"" ""Random,"" ""9 to 5"" and several Internet-only raps like ""Tango"" and ""Cheesy."" She became popular for her freestyle influence that not only combined the hardcore street life of a defensive teen but nursery rhymes every child is familiar. Her EP appeared in 2005 with Chocolate Industries and contained most of her singles fans had already fell in love with. At the end of the year, she met Jay-Z and set her sights on hitting American mainstream rap music. After an on-the-spot freestyle, Lady Sovereign earned a record contract with Def Jam and released her full length debut, Public Warning, in 2006."
