Northern State

hip-hop

Hesta Prynn, DJ Sprout and Guinea Love keep it real. Rather than front with street rhymes and bling-bling boasts, the New York trio represents Dorothy Parker, Family Ties and Cynthia Plaster Caster. On The Man's Dollar, from Dying in Stereo (StarTime), Prynn lays out her cred: Before I was an MC I had another life/ I used to work for the president's wife/ Now my flow's so slow you can't even clock it/ Give me two years, my shit'll skyrocket. Prynn used to intern for Hillary Rodham Clinton, so you know that she and her crew have something to say. Their voices may squeak and their braggadocio can get just as tiresome as the boys', but their science drops like Virginia Woolf into the River Ouse. Northern State's not throwing a new party, but by crashing this one, they make it safe for ladies who have more than sex and money on their minds. You have to wonder, though, are the Warped minds that spun off the Girlz Garage Tour trying to protect the ladies from the summer testosterone or pimp them out?

Wed., Oct. 22, 8 p.m., $13-$15, with Lillix, Brassy, Candy Ass and The Start, The TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011.

—M.J. Fine

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