A Little Deeper

Instead of paraphrasing, I'm going to directly quote a review from the cranky but sharp witted music critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice. Dated October 21st 2003: "If all beats are created equal, then Niomi Daley's [Ms. Dynamite] spare garage is as strong as Kimberley Jones's [Li'l Kim] thick hip-hop. If flow is as flow does, then her earned plasticity is as fresh as Lauryn Hill's easy liquidity. If singing is basically a matter of sincerity, then her straitened cadences express as complexly as Erykah Badu's high-flying scats. If conscious is enough, then "Tell me how many Africans died for the baguettes on your Rolex" will educate as deep as "Black like the perception of who on welfare." But good music isn't the same thing as a catchy feature story, and this Mercury Prize winner has less flavor than a plate of mashed. She's biracial and the eldest of 10 children and manifestly good-hearted, and when she goes ragga on the way out I wish she hadn't been groomed for something bigger and blander. But she made her choice. C+" Ouch. Going in only hearing Dy-Na-Mi-Tee on the radio in 2002, I thought "the rest of the album could be a promising British twist on the hip hop lyrics we know from elsewhere with a touch of soul". My hopes were too high. Overall: 2/10

Silly

Boy oh boy this has not aged well. Limp R and B stylings, and it joins that sad list of Mercury music prize (non-UK readers go google) winners such as Speech Debelle, Gomez and Klaxons for whom winning the Mercury would be the alpha and omega of their career.

Just not for me. I am not a fan of this type of music. I listened to things a couple of time, but couldn't get into it.

Not for me

pure evil

👎🏻

Are there worse albums on this list? Definitely. Should this be on the list? No. It's so middle of the road it sounds like she is bored halfway through this album. So repetitive and and dull jumping around genres because it feels like she can't get anything to stick. Is there a 35 minute good album in this? Maybe but I'll never listen through 80+ minute snooze fest again to find it.

Yikes. Getting annoyed just saying the same stuff but this really did nothing for me. The back made me not be able to tell when one song begins and another ends and that bothers me. There was nothing GOOD.

Crap then, crap now

# Playlist track - It Takes More - Bloodshy Main Mix # Notes - A couple of good tracks, but mostly an uninspired, boring album. - I was kinda listening to the whole thing in the background but when "Watch Over Them" played, I needed to stop doing whatever I was doing to wrap up this review. One of the worst, flattest, poorest interludes I've ever heard. - By this time this album was gunning for 3 stars, but this track alone should take one off. - A 10 minute ending track? C'mon, just end already. - 1/5 not recommend.

Nope.

Rubbish. I'd heard Dy-Na-Mi-Tee before. Didn't like it then. Don't like it now.

Don't be fooled: at its' core, A Little Deeper is just another turn-of-the-century overproduced pop record. This is social commentary for people who don't understand subtext and want ALL TEXT.

The authors must have predicted an entirely different course for Ms. Dynamite when they opted to include this totally unnecessary record on the list. The best thing about it is Kymani Marley who appears for a minute or so - the rest is irrelevant beyond belief.

Generic early 2000s pop. Enjoyable to listen to for a short while, but gets boring quickly.

I dont do r n B and rap. Peeps seem confused as to how this made it to the list. THere is too much shite on the list

Well this was very very boring. Not a single song stood out. I have no clue why this is on the list or why I should care.

generic r&b

I couldn't finish this album. There is something about her voice that really hits my ear in the absolute worst way. I don't actually know how to describe it. I'm a fan of the sound of early 2000's hip hop so it's not the style of music that's doing... just something about her voice. Sorry Ms. Dynamite!

Hip-Hop, bane of my existence. 1/5

Album doesn't exist

What a cringey intro song. "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" is the big seller here. It feels like whoever put this list together just happened to like this song so much that they added the whole album because of it. The beat/music is cool but that's more a compliment to whoever made the sample? I do like the vocals and the biggest compliment I can give is that she sounds very slightly like Amy Winehouse in the verses here. The lyrics are so straightforward and bland. It also really hits on a frustratingly simple lyrical idea that is so overdone in rap/hiphop; the cliche "I'm great, I'm the best", "I'm Ms. Dy-na-mi-tee I stay blowin' up you're stereo everybody gotta hear me though I'm just Ms. Dy-na-mi-tee Hear me bussin' on da radio Now feel my flow you get me though I'm Ms. Dy-na-mi-tee" Boring, substance-less chorus. "At 13 I thought I was in love with this guy Anytime I caught his eye I thought that I'd just die Remember playin' class clown I was just a disruptive fool And the beatin' I got first time suspended from school Remember Sunday School and after go to granmas for lunch Macaroni, rice and peas, chicken and pineapple punch Never had much my mum brother sister and me But love was enough to succeed To grow" It's like some teenager writing a poem for English class and being told "write what's around you.". There's times where I want to sit back and bop to this album but each time my brain turns off for a second, I remind myself that this is 1001 albums to hear in your lifetime. The standards are higher than that. If an album is on here and the lyrics aren't great, well maybe the performances should be evocative and full of emotion? If they don't hit that mark, maybe the production should be doing something new and inventive? If it doesn't then.. does it deserve to be on this list?

I feel a bit bad about giving this just 1 star, but it's a big step down from the 2 star albums for me. Honestly, though, this was uninspired and uninspiring, dull, flat, tuneless, a wait for it to be over. Others have commented that its inclusion on this list is baffling and I agree. Both bad and unimpactful.

I have no reason why this album made the list. I do not feel more musically educated or that my life has been enhanced by listening to it. There are many soul singers in the world. This one is average. The song production isn’t lush, this album doesn’t have much soul. Not only isn’t it a great album overall, it’s not a great album for its genre. Wasted spot on this list which should go to somebody more deserving. She probably deserves more than one star. I would give her 1.5 if possible. But I have given 2 stars to artists whom I feel are more deserving but I just don’t enjoy their music. I don’t feel she is on the level of some of my 2 star picks. Rating is hard y’all!

Ms Dynamite-ee-eeee.... And some other songs

Nope

Not for me 1/5

nope

some good beats but overall bland 2000s Hip Pop ?

I honestly tried. But I couldn't get through more than half of this album. The content of it was just so completely irrelevant to my life or experiences and it didn't do anything for me

A little deeper? If I knew what I was getting into, I would've stayed on the surface.

I don't care about this at all. I couldn't make it through two songs.

Blind album and artist. I wanted to skip songs many tracks and rip my earbuds out cause this sounds so dumb and annoying.

Just what I didn't need 1

This one was an uphill battle all the way through, not because it's a terrible album in any sense, but simply because it is so plain and unremarkable as to be boring. The beats sound like default Ableton presets, what little melody there is barely changes track to track, and Ms. Dynamite sounds like she can't be half-assed to show an ounce of excitement on her own LP. This is the album that inspires me to force my way onto the 1001 editorial board and see what madness is going on there, because nobody needs to hear this one before they die.

Nah.

It's alright, seems kind of generic and forgettable. I probably won't listen to this again. There are better choices for this genre.

not for me

Thanks, but no thanks. It has some nice beats, and it's not loud in-your-face, but it's just not for me.

For a name like "Ms. Dynamite" and "A Little Deeper." I'd expect some TNT through a mountain, not firecrackers on playdoh. That's too harsh. It's all fine but nothing about it stands out to me for an R&B record really.

Die kann ja nicht mal ordentlich singen

This is top 1000 of the world?

I have no access in Germany to the album on apple

No interest in finger-in-the-air / rap / hip-hop / mass market stuff. A definite 1 star

nope

I'm sorry, Ms. Dynamite, I see you won the Mercury Music Prize for this album, but alas, this style of music is simply not compatible with my eardrums

Impressions: Decent RnB/Hip-hop album but I don’t think it belongs a spot in the 1001 albums, sounds to mainstream. Favorite tracks: Anyway U Want, Sick ‘n’ Tired, Rating: 1/5

Nic dle mýho vkusu

Unoriginal, uninspired. No idea how this album is one you must listen to before you die.

Boring UK rap? Nothing I needed to hear

Just super lame R&B...was hoping for more grime sound. 1/5

Una altra mostra a la llista d'r&b barrejat amb hip hop i drum and bass, el que a UK a començaments de mil.leni s'anomenava 'garage' (una altra aberració). Diria que el problema és que ha quedat molt desfassat, però és que al seu moment sonava igual d'ensopit i innecessari

Never really understood the hype over this. Not unpleasant, but not particularly innovative or interesting either.

not gonna go back to this type of stuff

Seriously?

Annoying vocal style, boring music, weak lyrics, what more do you want?

this was Not Good, which stinks cause it sounds like ms dynamite can do much better than this, but this is some miserable songwriting with such a bland sound that i couldn't make it very far into the album before i decided i had better things to listen to