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Sex symbols in the British grime scene have so far been a little thin on the ground, unless you're a gay man who fancies anorexic black boys from council estates.

So when Lady Sovereign appeared on the scene, could you blame all the punters for hearing her perky voice and clever flow and imagining a hyped-up Minnie Mouse with bouncy tits and a firm grasp of semantics? But then she materialized in the video for The Streets' "Fit But You Know It (Remix)" and—lo and behold—she looked like a 12-year-old. There went all the grime boners.

And up they rose again when it came to light that this 5-foot-1 treasure is actually a 17-year-old. Lady Sovereign is from Neasden, London, and she loves McDonald's and video games. Oh, and she just signed to Island Records for 3 million pounds.

VICE: I guess it's hard to date anyone from the grime scene…

Lady Sovereign: I never know if people are approaching me for the right reasons. I'm single at the moment, but I'm just going to wait for the right person to come along rather than going out and looking. You've just gotta be careful these days, innit? Some people might be ashamed to tell you certain things, so you could be getting into bed with them and whatnot and the next day waking up with a rash, you know?

What are the guys like who try and get with you?

They're mainly blah-barians. That's someone who is just blah-ing you about, innit. Chatting rubbish and whatever. I've always had blah-barians. People talking about me and ringing my phone saying, "You think you're this and that." God knows how they get my number.

That's a bit stalkerish, that is. Have you ever been on a date where the guy has been really off-key?

Nah. I just hate it when someone can't kiss. That's so important. This one guy I dated couldn't kiss at all. He had his lips all over my mouth like a bloody toilet plunger. I just made up an excuse, got out of there, and missed all his phone calls from then on.

MATT MASON
The single "Random," featuring Riko from Roll Deep Crew, is out now on Island Records. They recorded it during a visit to jail, because that's where Riko lives now. Sov's full-length album is dropping later this year.

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