And on the 18th Day... Britain awoke to find it had a new soul sensation on its hands.
Dubbed the new face of UK hip hop, Estelle takes a battering ram to pre-conceived, pre-packaged ideas about genre and releases a mightily impressive debut.
Combining the streetwise sass of Destiny's Child, relentless rap skills of Missy Elliot and chart nous of Misteeq, the young MC is a force to be reckoned with - and her towering voice may even prick up a few ears across the Atlantic.
Estelle's debut boasts a killer single (1980), some Motown stomp (Go Gone) and even echoes of prime-time Stevie Wonder (Change Is Coming). After the implosion of Ms Dynamite's career, Estelle has cleared the wreckage. Hip hop hooray!
Updated: 08:36 Thursday, November 04, 2004
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