20/Santogold/Santogold
Who’s that girl?
Neighborhood festival: Who’s that girl? Hype Machine, mix tapes: Who’s that girl? Spank Rock, Bangers and Cash: Who’s that girl? I had ridden the M.I.A. Arular high for as long as I could. Kala was a long time coming and I both wanted and needed someone to feel that giant M.I.A. like void now present in my life. Next thing you know, BOOM, the wind cried Mary, and there she was, Santi (-gold) White. Friends were bumping the Shove It Remix, Creator was lighting up many a mix tape in these parts, her turns on Bangers & Cash was direct, sharp and in your face, reminiscent and damn near identical to the swagger of Ms. Arulpragasam. So imagine my surprise when her first single L.E.S. Artistes dropped and we found ourselves in Yeah Yeah Yeahs Maps/Siouxsies and the Banshees territory. I, was intrigued, and would go on to be so for the remainder of this disc’s 11 tracks. Bucking stereotypes and marching to the beat of her own drum, Santogold’s self-titled debut answers the question “who’s that girl?” track after track after track. She is who she is, headstrong, confident, running thangs. No matter the sound, no matter the flow, this is Santi White’s album, these are her ideas, and she shines whether she’s riding the staccato rhythms of Unstoppable, the reggae tinged melody of Shove It, or the ramshackle hot fuzz groove of Creator. She is, again, Santi (-gold) White. And I’ll never expect her to be anything else ever again.
KEY TRACKS: L.E.S. Artistes/Shove It/Creator
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