Jigsaw

On her second album, "Jigsaw," the feisty rapper Lady Sovereign experiments with dancier beats, cleaner production and electronic vocals that sometimes find her singing rhymes instead of rapping them. The repetitive opener "Let's Be Mates" gets the album off to a rocky start, but Lady Sov quickly redeems herself with "So Human." Over a sample of the Cure's "Close to Me," she rants about the pressure to stay in the spotlight and make more music after 2006's "Public Warning" gave her next-big-thing status. This time around, the British rapper wants to get people on the dancefloor with the robotic vocals of "I Got You Dancin' " and the synthy guitar riff and minimalist beeps and bleeps in "Bang Bang." Although during "So Human" she sings, "I'll be gone again in four days," it's probably not true—the self-proclaimed biggest midget in the game is still going strong.—Laura Leebove