God-dess and She Issue #36

Stand Up (Gentry Music Group)

By Jessie Nelson
Published: August 1st, 2008 | 10:54am

New York by way of Wisconsin's God-dess and She are paving new ground as the industry’s first female queer hip-hop soul duo. Their debut release, Stand Up, will cause the industry to take notice as God-dess and She take their rhyming sensibility and musicality to the next level.

Anthems such as “Top of the World” and “This is the Life” inspire without being cheesy and the combination of God-dess’ playful bravado and She’s sexy alto make these definite “turn-up-the-car-speaker” jams. The duo tackles the crazy state of our nation with the title track, “Stand Up,” and “Hey Mister President" and takes on the music industry with aggressive club jam “Give ’Em What They Want." “Love You Better” is God-dess’s love letter to her crush, with another hot hook, "I want you to be mine / Hope I’m not out of line / No one can love you better," from She. “Lick It” is the sex anthem of the album with grinding drums and in-your-face instructions on how to make a girl feel good. After the track's success on The L Word, it likely appears on many an iPod. God-dess and She will inspire even the most jaded hip-hop head as they release their intellectual, fiery brand of hip-hop into the world — proving beyond a doubt that women can rap their way into our ears and intellect. —Jessie Nelson