Ladybug Mecca 'Suspense' album

Grammy Award winning talent, Ladybug Mecca (Rebirth Of Slick "Cool Like Dat" 1993) formerly of the rap group Digable Planets is currently in the studio recording her new solo debut set to be released in Fall 2003. Ladybug Mecca, possibly rap's most notorious voice of her time with the group Digable Planets in the early 90's, is now back for her first solo project after a long layoff and start of a new family. Rebirth of Mec, which showcases among other things, Ladybug's soulful versatility, is due out in the Fall.

On Rebirth of Mec she bares soul and explores her journey from innocence into sense. She pairs her thoughtful words with an eclectic blend of music: breezy Afro Brazilian rhythms cross-pollinate with hip-hop beats, fiery rock riffs and post-bop blue notes meet and prosper. Co-produced and overseen by Mecca and Nu Paradigm CEO Nkosi Gray, the set features Hitman, from Dr. Dre's Aftermath camp, and producers include Shane Conry, Isreal, Sa-Ra and Martin Luther, from San Francisco-based Good Vibes.

The track "Hit & Mec" details what makes the album's only match up work over trunk rattlin' beats and a dazzling soundscape. Hitman, who has rhythmed with Dr. Dre and Eminen in the past, puts it this way: "I'm straight gutta, she's straight profound." Another song, "Step Up Wise," boom-bangs to message about education and empowerment." If you want the truth," Mecca explains, "you have to step up wise."

Prominent in Mecca's history is her role in Digable Planets, a communal clan of poet-rappers that made "hip-hop bebop" popular in the 90's. Alongside her two male partners she burst onto the scene like a quiet storm, blowing away expectations and defining a new stance for ladies who followed on the mike. "Mecca The Ladybug makes great strides in proving women in rap don't need to scream and swagger inorder to be tough and assertive," wrote Larry Flick in Billboard magazine. "Mecca never raises her voice but always is a commanding figure."

Ladybug Mecca

The crew's 1993 unveiling, Reaching' (a new refutation of time and space), sold platinum and included samples from Curtis Mayfield, Sonny Rollins and other pacesetters. The single "Rebirth Of Slick ("Cool Like Dat) was a Top 10 smash that won a Grammy award for Best Rap Performance by a duo or group. The trio also scored one Billboard award, among other accolades, and toured the world as the opening act for Sade. Its follow-up, Blowout Comb, followed the group's creative light to another singular level of inspiration.

"I want listeners to come into my world," says Mecca of her solo debut, Rebirth of Mec, on the independent, self-determining Nu-Paradigm Entertainment. "I'd like them to feel they've entered into a new dimension, somewhere they've been before but can't remember yet." All in all, Rebirth celebrates life. As Mecca told writer Cheo Hodari Coker (Vibe Magazine): "Creating music is like giving birth, and your baby is a gift to the world."

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Ladybug Mecca - Suspense