Who’s Mike Delinquent?…
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[6.88]
Alex Ostroff: Since Lady Leshurr first caught my attention with her flip of “Look At Me Now“, her mixtapes, freestyles and guest spot on Lea-Anna’s “Murder (1st Degree Remix)” have consistently wowed. Still, I’ve been waiting for a star-making turn that isn’t just a couple bars on someone else’s track or a remix of an existing hit. Meanwhile, The Mike Delinquent Project were responsible for a very 90’s dance remix of Yasmin’s well-regarded (in these parts) “Finish Line“. So “Step in the Dance” is a welcome surprise — the production begins as a double-time bit that wouldn’t be out of place on Run the Road, before revealing touches of wub-wub-wubstep and pizzicato strings. Lady Leshurr nimbly dances across the beat, switching back and forth between more aggressive grime vocals, Busta Rhymes-esque growls, dancehall patois, toasting and singing, proving more than capable of morphing with the music as necessary and dominating it when needed. There’s likely not a big enough pop hook for this to crossover, but it’s a step in the right direction.
[8]
Jonathan Bogart: Mike Delinquent’s name is on the marquee, and he gets the lion’s share of the namechecks in the song itself, but let’s not kid ourselves that anybody but Leshurr owns it, any more than “Perfect Stranger” was loved for Magnetic Man. Here’s hoping we get at least a “Broken Record” out of her.
[9]
Anthony Easton: I was alternating between finding this brilliant and finding it obnoxious, but I was at the SAQ today looking at the Christmas selection and was reminded of the line “We’ve got champs, we’ve got rosé”; I decided that if the line left that much of a memory, it was closer to brilliant. Extra point for how she sings “dahnce,” extra point for the percussion, extra point for handclaps.
[8]
Brad Shoup: Tame production, although I’ve been bingeing on d’n’b of late. (When the broken beats arrive at the end of this song, they do so by kids’ Casio.) Lady Leshurr’s syllable waves provide the fun, a la Eminem in “Just Lose It”.
[5]
Ian Mathers: I almost feel like the Amen break is a cheat here; I love it pretty much whenever it’s deployed, sure, but I like the first half with the rubbery, rounded synths and the slink in Leshurr’s voice on the chorus more than the coda. Both parts are good, but the first one is better, and the join is a little too clumsy to really pull off the shift. And having that distinct shift in a three-minute song seems unnecessary (unless it works).
[6]
Alfred Soto: I had a weakness for this sort of grime but this is closer to the generic end.
[3]
Iain Mew: Lady Leshurr doesn’t get to go quite as blistering as on some of her own stuff (“Good God” is particularly great). But the instrumental is easily snappy enough to stand up on its own, and she still dominates it thoroughly enough for “Step in the Dance” to be a very fine showcase. My favourite moment is a close tie between her “Drop. Bass. Out. Go!” announcement ahead of the manic end section, and the reference to Emeli Sandé’s “Next to Me” which is amusingly at odds with its original message.
[8]
Patrick St. Michel: Lady Leshurr deserves a lot of credit for keeping up with “Step In The Dance”: Mike Delinquent takes the music from a brisk, bass-assisted run to a bit of a cool down to a drum ‘n’ bass finale that moves a touch faster than anything that came before. The production is impressive enough, but Lady Leshurr keeping up vocally — and sounding really good while sprinting alongside it — is even sweeter.
[8]