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Kid Sister is certainly on the right tracks, but Ultraviolet is a sadly patchy affair.
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The potential Young shows is infectious and encouraging, but her debut was going to be a buzz kill from the start, if only because of the hype.
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I's a 40-minute, 12-track dance-rap full-length without a single hard punchline or trenchant moment, the sort of thing that sounds like it could've been banged out in a couple of weeks.
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After 20-something years of rap and dance running in mostly parallel lines, Kid Sister's imagining of their intersection is fresh and unapologetically fun.
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A few cuts ('Big N Bad,' '54321' or 'Step') don’t succeed in showcasing her talents as well as the rest of the album, but Ultraviolet succeeds in bringing together older Kid Sis favorites with new material, and--most importantly--is just a really fun party record.
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Yet even this fits with Kid Sister's vibe of retro irrepressibility. Dream Date's every track virtually dares you to resist her.
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Ultraviolet certainly doesn't sound like the work of the salvation of female rap: if anything, it's at its least successful the closer it gets to straightforward hip-hop. What it sounds like is a great pop album, packed with indelible tunes and potential hit singles.
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Like her breakthrough with mentor Kanye West ('Pro Nails'), they're testaments to hip-hop/club fusion--an old-school idea that this Kid gives the 21st-century treatment.
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Though Kid Sister might lack some versatility, her club-friendly material is more than above average, and gleams colorfully if synthetically, like her outstretched hand of freshly painted nails.
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There’s a lot about Ultraviolet you might want to like. But it runs more on concept rather than talent; too often it feels self-conscious and low on hooks.
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Kid Sis has elected to keep things simple--so when the album works, it becomes clear that it really works.
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Kid Sister’s debut is utterly lacking in catchy hooks, fun-filled call and responses, or even those unspeakable dirty lyrics that you would never repeat to mother. Instead, the majority of the album plays out like a bunch of throwaway b-side beats over dull, unoriginal rhymes despite Kid Sister’s tight flow.
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Ultraviolet is brimming with the artist's down-to-earth candidness.
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Dream Date does more than achieve its purpose, which is to get bottoms leaking.
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Kid Sister’s winking lyrics and charismatic flow elevate the album beyond a mere throwback.
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The album is undeniably solid, so why does it feel faintly underwhelming? Context is key.
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Alternative PressFun with out being frivolous or dumb, the album lives up to pre-release hype and solidifies Kid Sister as the fiercest new hip-hop female on the block. [Feb 2009, p.107]
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It's taken a while to get here, but Ultraviolet finally introduces a fresh talent who may not have too much to say just yet, but what's going on in the background goes some way to making up for such deficiencies.
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UrbWhile the new songs don't reach that across-the-board crossover appeal, there are some synthed-out gems that get a proper unveiling. [Nov/Dec 2008, p.86]
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Q MagazineFunctional but fun. [May 2010, p.122]
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Rather than go fierce, Kid Sis has gone house, crafting a debut that's high on her Chicago hometown's pulsating synthetic beats and '80s freestyle reinventions, but low on chiseled rhymes. Move along; no savior to see here.
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She hits rock bottom on the repetitive, bland Daydreaming. It really does feel like a daydream, this whole idea of crowning a new female rap queen.
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FilterSpeaking if cheese...well, yeah, there's a lot of it on Dream date, with a healthy topping of enthralling production and slick, meaningless rhymes. [Winter, p.102]